A Dream Within a Dream
by xXThAnKs-FoR-tHe-MeMoRiEsXx
Summary: Emilia was a little more thn obsessed with Avatar The Last Air Bender. She's in for a surprise when what seems like a normal kitchen fire takes her to a world she's only seen on TV. What will she do when she goes from watching it in her room to living it?
1. Just a Really Bad Dream

**Authors Note: Thank you very much for joining us on this wonderful adventure that is my fanfiction. I hope you enjoy it and I hope you'll have as much fun readin it as I did writing it. Hang in there while I post the chapters, I'll try to make it weekly but of something comes up I'll post it ASAP. Enjow :)**

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><p>Emilia was an average teenager, always doing what teenagers did. She got up, went to school, talked about TV with her friends. Her recent obsession was over a certain TV show that she was in the midst of completing for the third time; Avatar: The Last Airbender. She watched it from the moment it first came out to when it ended a few years ago, but now she was just rewatching it out of boredom. Her friends all swore she was obsessed but she just saw it as being dedicated.<p>

"Honestly Emi, we need to find you a boyfriend who isn't your Zuko poster," one of Emilia's friends laughed. Emilia laughed with them but it was short lived. She knew it was true but there was no way anyone at her school would go for a girl like her. She was way too much of a nerd and with how much she talked about some fake character in a TV show they'd probably dump her the second they started dating. Emilia didn't let things like that bother her though. She knew that someday she'd find someone who didn't care about her obsession.

The second Emilia got home she went to her room and popped in her Avatar DVD. She was almost at the end and was hoping for no interruptions from her family. They had been bothering her for the last few days and now she just wanted to sit in her room and watch her show for the umpteen-millionth time. It was around this time that Emilia smelled something burning in what she assumed was the kitchen.

"Mom! You're burning something!" Emilia shouted, not wanting to leave her show. It was one of those all Zuko episodes she loved so much. When the smell of smoke didn't leave Emilia called for her mother again but still nothing changed. Assuming her mom was asleep or left the house for something, Emilia paused her DVD and proceeded to the kitchen where she assumed it was all coming from. Something was burning alright, but it wasn't dinner. The whole kitchen was on fire! Emilia ran into the kitchen and covered her mouth to try and find where it was coming from and kill its source. She wasn't having much luck so she decided to just go to the sink and get some water. She threw the water on the flame the best she could, unaware that the smoke alarms had finally decided to start working.

"Everyone, out of the ship!" A voice called. Emilia growled, thinking her DVD player had decided to start playing again. She decided that the fire was too much and she would just have to call 911. She went to exit her kitchen but she wasn't met with her pastel colored living room. Instead the teen was met with what looked like the inside of an iron ship. She became even more confused when people who looked like Fire Nation soldiers started passing in front of her in the long corridor. Where was she? She decided to fallow them and try to decipher what was going on when she was grabbed from behind and drug out of the ship.

"Zhao, we found this one in the burning ship," the person holding Emilia said. Wait, Zhao? As in commander Zhao of the Fire Nation? Emilia looked up to be met with the face of one of her least favorite characters from that show.

"So, a stow away huh?" Zhao said. "Take her to my new ship and throw her in a cell." The men do as they were told and throw Emilia in a cold metal cell.

Emilia was there for what felt like hours. She kept trying to tell herself it was all just a dream; that she inhaled too much smoke and is currently passed out on her kitchen floor. One of the neighbors will see the smoke eventually and call for help then she'll be okay. She'll wake up in a hospital surrounded by her family and concerned doctors.

A set of footsteps snapped her out of her trance and made her go to the edge of the cell. She looked out the bars on the door and saw what looked like two people coming her way. As they got closer their voice became clearer.

"I know how to stay hidden uncle," the first voice said. "I just have to do it until we get to the North Pole, then I can capture the Avatar."

"I just want to make sure you know the risks of hiding on Zhao's ship," the second replied. Emilia knew these people and a cheeky grin came to her face. This was gonna be one nice dream.

"Hey! You guys!" Emilia called through the grates. "Yea you, can you please open this door? Zhao put me in here and I'd enjoy giving him an ass whooping." Zuko was the first to look at her, his angry scowl plastered to his face. Emilia bit her lip at how attractive she thought he was, hoping he couldn't see. While his nephew stared, Iroh made sure the coast was clear so he could unlock the door. When Emilia stepped out the two fire benders looked at her strangely. Emilia looked at herself and instantly knew why. Usually in her dreams her clothes would change but this time they decided not to. She was still in her blue jeans and a t-shirt with the fire nation symbol on it. She must have looked a sight.

"Thanks, I'm Emilia by the way," she said, trying to get the dream to progress before she woke up. "You can call me Emi though."

"We don't have time for introductions, we're busy," Zuko said and turned to walk away. Whoa, back up; usually in her dreams Zuko fell head over heels for her in no time at all. Now he was blowing her off? She must be in one deep sleep if he doesn't like her yet.

"Where did you get those strange clothes?" Iroh asked her, ignoring his nephews want to leave her where she stood.

"Um . . . home?" Emilia said with a coy smile. Iroh chuckled and Zuko scowled.

"Where are you from, Emi?" Iroh asked.

"Uncle, leave her alone. She probably works for Zhao and is trying to trick us."

"Oh please, I hate him more than I hate my older brother," Emilia said, crossing her arms.

"There you see, she's just a prisoner on this ship," Iroh said. "But seriously, where are you from young one? I would assume fire nation, but I could be wrong." Emilia didn't know what to say, nothing like this ever happened in her dreams before. Everything always went her way but now it was like she really had to make up some dumb story for herself. Iroh was looking at her rather dumbfounded by this time and Zuko was looking at her too.

"Well, I'm not really from anywhere," Emilia said, not knowing what else to say.

"Ah, so you're a traveler," Iroh confirmed. Emilia nodded her head and put her hands in her pockets. Zuko rolled his eyes and continued on his way, while Iroh offered her to come back to his quarters and have a cup of tea. Emilia had always wondered what the tea they talked about tasted like and she had never really tasted it in her dreams.

After spending time with Iroh and the pouty prince Emilia was beginning to wonder what was going on back home? Was she okay or had the smoke inhalation killed her? She was beginning to worry that it was the latter seeing as how everything was so vivid. She refused to let on that something was wrong; she didn't want things to take a turn for the worse. The last thing she needed was things going wrong inside her head and ending up having a heart attack or something. That was the last thing she wanted right now.

"You appear to have something on your mind," Iroh said. Emilia had forgotten she was in someone's presence for a moment and jumped when she heard the old man's voice. His kinda face seemed so real, it was hard to keep telling herself she was just dreaming.

"I'm just thinking about my family, I haven't seen any of them since this morning," Emilia said honestly. No one was ever home when she arrived back from school and she had been watching TV for a few hours before spoke even began pouring out of the kitchen. She wondered if she would ever even see them again. No, she had to be positive. The worst that could happen was she was in a coma and the doctors were pumping her with incline in an attempt to wake her up. "I didn't even say good-bye. Just ran out the door."

It was late now and Iroh had offered Emilia a place to sleep for the night, much to Zuko's dislike. She told him it was okay but he insisted, saying it would be easier for her to hide from Zhao if she stayed somewhere he would never think to look. As the two fire bender's drifted off to sleep Emilia sat up and looked out the little window in the cabin. Usually in a dream if she went to sleep it meant she was waking up. This dream kept getting more and more strange. Oh well, if it was time to wake up then it was time to wake up.

As opposed to what Emilia thought she would wake up to, she was awoken by some very loud snoring. She figured it was her dad sleeping in the chair by her hospital bed, but she found that she was still in the ship. She sat up rather quickly and looked outside. The sun was just beginning to rise over the iceberg infested waters that surrounded them. Emilia could feel her heart pounding in her chest and hear it thumping in her ears. What the hell was going on? She was scared and angry, something she wasn't used to feeling at the same time. She backed away from the window and examined herself the best she could. She was wearing the same clothes she had gone to school in; her hair was still the same carmelly blond color it was when she was born; her skin was still pale; from the reflection she had gotten from the blade decorating the wall, her eyes were still a vivid green. Everything was the same as when she had passed out on the kitchen floor and yet she was in the Avatar world. Emilia brought her hands up to her face and ran her nails over the flesh before slapping herself several times in an attempt to wake her up.

"What are you doing?" a tired voice asked. Emilia jerked her head around to see Zuko looking at her with tired eyes. Emilia was shaking; she didn't know what to do or what to tell him. No matter what she did he would think she was completely mental and probably give her to Zhao. She didn't know what kind of monster Zhao could be when her brain wouldn't let her wake up.

"I . . . I . . ." She had no idea what to say. Zuko rolled his eyes and crawled out of his bed to give her a closer inspection. Her face was all red from where she slapped herself and her left cheek was developing a bruise. What a stupid woman.

"Are you out of your mind, why are you hitting yourself?" Zuko questioned, his voice irritated. He didn't even know why he was bothering with this girl, what he really needed to worry about was staying hidden and getting some rest for when the ship landed at the North Pole.

Emilia didn't know what to tell him. Was she supposed to say she was dreaming and she was having a miniature panic attack because she hadn't woken up yet? Emilia shook her head and slapped her hands on either of her head, digging her nails in a little bit. Zuko watched as the woman before him continued to freak out. He had never dealt with a woman like this before; he didn't know what was wrong with her. All he could do was assume she wasn't feeling well and she needed some medical attention. Since that wasn't really an option Zuko did the next best this; wake his uncle.

Iroh groggily woke up from his nephew shaking his shoulder and rubbed his eyes. He questioned what he wanted and all Zuko could do was gesture towards Emilia. She was still sitting on the ground, her head in her hands and her body shaking like a leaf. From the sounds she was making she must have started crying too. Iroh got out of his bed and crawled over to the crying girl and placed a calm hand on her shoulder.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing staining her face with such tears?" Iroh asked, making Emilia look at him. What was she going to do, tell him the truth? Hell no, that was completely out of the question. She started breathing in and out slower in an attempt to calm herself down and whipped the tears from her eyes-she hadn't even noticed she had started crying.

"I'm sorry, I just had a really bad dream," Emilia lied. "I can't stand bad dreams."


	2. Seeing the Future

**Auther's Note: I'm glad so many people like my story so far and it's going to get better. I'm so very sorry for the delay but I was busy last weekend and I've had to work majority of this week so I haven't had a chance to sit at my computer.**

**anyway, here's chapter two hope you like it!**

**reviews would be greatly appreciated btw :3**

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><p>Emilia didn't tell the two why she was really upset, she just kept it all bottled up inside. She knew if she told them anything they would probably send her away or whatever it is they did here. She had done her best to avoid Iroh and Zuko while she was on the ship. Every day she was on the ship and not her own bed was another day she feared for the worse. What was even worse than not waking up was knowing that everything Zuko was going to do was going to end up failing. She wanted to tell him that he wasn't going to capture Aang this time around or any time he tried. All that was going to happen was he was going to get stuck in a blizzard and nearly freeze to death. It was frustrating to watch him act like the pompous prince he was. If this was what he was really like then she didn't care if he was attractive or not.<p>

The ship had made it to the North Pole finally and Zhao's men were already attacking the ice fortress. Emilia watched from the window, knowing she should just flat out tell someone that this was just not gonna work out but now, it wasn't going to work like that. If she told someone they would think she was completely off her rocker. The door to the room Emilia was in cracked open but she didn't turn around.

"Prince Zuko is about to leave, would you like to see him off with me?" Iroh's voice asked. Emilia turned around to look at him, a curious look on her face.

"Are you sure? I mean I don't even know you guys that well,"

"Of course, besides you need some fresh air,"

So that's what she did. She accompanies Iroh out of the ship to where Zuko was preparing to leave. Emilia knew what was about to happen, it was one of the most touching parts of the entire first season-well, it was in her opinion anyway.

"You're fishing for an octopus, my nephew. You need a tightly woven net, or he will squeeze through the tiniest hole and escape." Iroh said to his nephew.

"I don't need your wisdom right now, Uncle," Zuko said in that typical know-it-all voice. Emilia smiled, knowing what was about to happen.

"I'm sorry, I just nag you because, well . . . ever since I lost my son-"

"Uncle, you don't have to say it . . ."

"I think of you as my own," Emilia felt as though she could tear up. This moment was so much more touching when you get to experience it firsthand. Zuko looked at his uncle, a small smile seeming to play on his lips.

"I know, Uncle," He bowed to his uncle and Iroh wrapped his nephew in a hug. Emilia just sat back and watched the adorable moment unfold.

"Besides, When you get back I'm sure you'd love to have this young woman accompany you on your ship," Iroh playfully elbowed his nephew causing the teen to roll his eyes. "We will meet again."

"After I have the Avatar," Zuko said and got into the boat to leave.

"Remember your breath of fire; it could save your life!" Iroh called.

"I will," Zuko replied.

"And put your hood up; keep your ears warm,"

"I'll be fine!" With that, Zuko left and left the two by themselves. Emilia was about to go back inside when Iroh grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"I think you should fallow my nephew," Iroh said. "He needs someone to guide his way and you seem like just the person." Emilia looked at him strangely. Maybe this dream was get a little better.

"But I'm not exactly ready for swimming," Emilia said, gesturing to her jeans and t-shirt.

"Lucky for you I have some clothes for you,"

About an hour later Emilia was wearing some Fire Nation clothes and swimming through the freezing cold water or the North Pole. She had found several holes but none of them had any footprints leading away from them. After about six holes she came across one that had some footprints near it. She decided that this was her best bet at finding Zuko and fallowed the foot prints. She looked around at what was happening and tried to find out where Zuko might have been. It was starting to snow meaning Zuko was probably on his way to the cave. Emilia shivered and groaned before heading to the cave.

By now it was snowing really hard and Emilia was ready to just lie down and die from hypothermia when she found a dark spot in all the snow. She wondered how long Zuko had been in there but decided it couldn't have been very long since he was still giving the "daddy loved Azula more" monologue. Emilia listened to him until he was finished then decided to stumble her way through the snow and into the cave. She must have startled him because he took a fighting stance.

"What are you doing here?"

"You're uncle asked me to make sure you didn't get yourself killed," Emilia said. "Now can you make a fire before we freeze?" Zuko rolled his eyes and walked away from her. She looked at Aang on the ground, tied up like he was supposed to be. Emilia sat on the ground by Aang to try and transfer some body heat since the pouty prince wasn't going to make a fire or willing share any of his warmth. The blond teen looked at Aang and felt sorry for him. She always like him in the show, his childish air and wisdom filled words always made her feel better, so why did it seem like her path in this dream was to help Zuko?

"I guess we're going to be here a while," Zuko said, turning his attention to the blizzard outside. Emilia looked at him then at the snow. She was wondering how long it would be before the others found where they were. Everything moved so slowly here, she missed just watching TV and yelling at it when the people on it didn't listen to her. Emilia's body erupted in a shiver, making her curl herself into a tight ball by Aang. This earned some attention from the prince. It was the first real ounce of it he'd given the girl since she set foot in the cave.

"You're Fire Nation right? How are you not warm in this weather?" Zuko asked her. The body temperature of the normal fire bender was at least 100 degrees and since majority of the Fire Nation were benders then why was she so cold?

"I c-can't bend anyth-thing, so r-right n-n-now I'm free-eezing," Emilia said through chattering teeth. "And o-on top of th-that, I'm n-not ev-v-ven Fire N-Nation." She couldn't remember the last time she was this cold. If she ever woke up from this damned coma then she would never complain about having to walk to school in the snow ever again. Zuko looked at her shivering form and felt a twinge of guilt. He had assumed she was a fire bender because of her shirt but now he realized that she was just a weak little girl. Against his better judgment he crawled over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Emilia jumped a little and looked at Zuko who was still looking out of the cave. She felt her body begin to warm and assumed it was because of him. She smiled softly as the tremors in her body began to stop. This dream was finally getting good.

"Thank you," Emilia said.

"My uncle likes you and since he's probably going to invite you to travel with us I may as well keep you alive," Emilia nodded her head at Zuko's response. He probably didn't want her on the ship and was just being nice to her out of pity. But this was a dream so things should be going her way, right? It was probably because she really was in a coma. Her mind was trying to make it easier on her so it's making her actually have to do everything the hard way. She'd had a TV crush on Zuko since the series started but as of right now she couldn't imagine why that was. Zuko was a dick.

"Thanks for caring but I think I'd rather freeze," Emilia said before standing to walk away from him. Zuko rolled his eyes and stood up too, his butt was starting to freeze. Emilia saw a light in the sky outside the cave and then looked to Aang. He was coming back from the spirit world. Zuko was looking at her when the young air bender's spirit returned to his body but when Aang made a noise he redirected his attention.

"Welcome back," he said with a low voice. Emilia knew what was about to happen so she backed away a little for fear of being hit with a blast of air. Like he should, Zuko hit the wall then charged after the Avatar. Emilia felt the urge to warn him that Katara and Sokka were going to be out there so she ran after him.

"Zuko, the bison's going to be out-" she was too late, it was already there. Great, now there had to be a dumb fight that Zuko would lose. Zuko dropped Aang and took a fighting stance as Katara got off Appa.

"Ready for a rematch?"

"Trust me Zuko; it's not going to be much of a match." Emilia felt like she should warn him but before she had a chance to he was already down and Sokka was cutting the rope on Aang's arms. Emilia ran up to Zuko and started trying to get all the snow off but there was too much. She looked up just as Aang began pulling Zuko out of the snow.

"Come on, you too," Aang said, helping her onto Appa's saddle.

"Yea, this makes a lot of sense," Sokka said sarcastically. "Let's bring the guy who's constantly trying to kill us." Emilia rolled her eyes and looked at the water tribe boy. He looked back at her and raised an eyebrow.

"And you are?"

"Emi. Now do me a favor and stop talking shit about Zuko," Emilia warned. "I may not be a bender but I can give you good ol' fashioned ass whooping." That seemed to shut him up pretty quickly.

Emilia knew Zuko wasn't going to stick around for the slaying of the moon spirit so she slipped away when he did to go find Zhao. She watched in awe as Aang took control of the water spirit to take out the soldiers, but her attention was redirected to Zhao and Zuko. This was a fight she had watched over and over, mostly because it was the last one with Zhao in it and she loved watching him get his ass handed to him. She watched as Zhao ran and directed Zuko to where he was going. Emilia smirked when Zuko shot a fire ball at him.

"You're alive?"

"You tried to have me killed!" Zuko shot more fire at the man and jumped of the ledge after him, Emilia fallowing close enough to still watch.

"Yes I did," Zhao said like the pompous ass he was. "You're the Blue Spirit; and enemy of the Fire Nation. You freed the Avatar."

"I had no choice," Zuko shot some more fire at Zhao but he deflected it. Emilia was watching intently with that creepy smile on her face like she did when she was in her room. It was so much better with a front row seat.

"You should have chosen to accept your failure; you're a disgrace," Zhao taunted. "Then, at least, you could have lived." With that Zhao shot some fire at Zuko and Zuko shot some back. It was getting so intense; Emilia almost forgot she was watching it live as opposed to on a TV screen.

"Left, right, he's gonna hit you from behind," Emilia shouted like she always did. "Hit him now, he won't be able to recover!" Zuko was taking her advice and finally had him on the ground when he noticed the moon was back to normal.

"No!" he cried. Without warning, the ocean spirit came out of the water and wrapped its watery fingers around Zhao's body. He looked terrified and for a moment Emilia felt sorry for him. She and Zuko rushed to his aid.

"Take my hand!" Zuko instructed. Emilia held hers out too, trying to extend her fingers just a little bit more to help the poor man. He gave up though, knowing it was no use. You couldn't fight off a spirit. He was dragged under the water where he surely drowned. Emilia watched as the water returned to normal then looked back to Zuko who was looking at her strangely. She raised an eyebrow questionatively.

"How did you know how everything was going to happen today?" Zuko asked. Emilia mentally face-palmed herself; how could she have been so stupid? She had to think of something quick before Zuko had a chance to ask any more questions.

"I . . . I, ugh . . ."

"You're a profit, aren't you? You can see the future,"

"Yes, I can see the future," Emilia said, subconsciously running her fingers through her hair-something she did when she was nervous.

Sometime later the trio were on a make-shift raft on their way out of the North Pole. Emilia was helping Iroh put up a sail as Zuko sat at the edge of the raft, looking into the water.

"I am surprised, Prince Zuko," Iroh said as he fiddled with the make-shift sail. "Surprised that you are not at this moment trying to capture the Avatar." Iroh looked at his nephew out of the corner of his eye, obviously waiting for some smartass remark like he usually got.

"I'm tired," was all the prince said. Iroh came up behind his nephew and place his hand on his shoulder.

"Then you should rest," Iroh said like the wise old man he was. "A man needs his rest." With that Zuko lay on his back and looked up at the sky, a pained look on his face. He looked so defeated. Emilia felt bad for him, she knew she probably shouldn't but she did. After Iroh had returned to the sail Emilia walked over to Zuko and sat by him. He looked up at her with the same look of defeat. Emilia gave him a soft smile and reached out to stroke his head gently.

"If you could see the future, why didn't you tell me I would lose the Avatar?" Zuko asked quietly. Emilia's smile fell and she took her hand back and placed it in her lap.

"I can only see certain things," Emilia lied. She didn't like lying to him like this but what else could she do? If she told him the truth he would think she was crazy. She didn't want to be alone in her mind for the duration of her stay here so she would just have to continue lying. This was the world of Avatar; not Reno, Nevada. The only hope she had was that she could continue to lie until she found out how to get home.


	3. Some Heart to Hearts

**Auther's Note: thanks for the reviews now on to chapter 3!**

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><p>The days were like normal days here and nothing skipped around like Emilia hoped it would. No, they had been floating on that stupid raft for three weeks and the three of them were starting to smell bad. They luckily came across the spa that would solve all of that. She knew Zuko would be mopey, but she still tried to convince him to bathe. He ignored her and told her to enjoy herself while they were here. She thought he looked so sad; she just wanted to wrap him in a hug and tell him that everything would be okay. All she could do though was sit in a hot spring and take a long hot bath. She hadn't had one of these in what felt like forever. It had been a good two months since she'd cleaned herself up and this felt so relaxing.<p>

After the bath the blond teen wrapped herself in a robe and made her way to where Iroh and Zuko should have been. She heard them talking and knew that they were having that all too familiar conversation. It was one she loved, but also hated.

"I want the Avatar, my honor, my throne," Zuko listed. "I want my father not to think I'm worthless." Emilia felt like she was going to tear up but before she could run off Zuko came around the corner and bumped into her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there," Emilia said nothing. Zuko let his head hang a little and went to walk past her.

"You're like Dandy Lions."

"Excuse me?" Zuko snapped, hearing himself be compared to a weed.

"When people look at one all they see is a weed; something that's completely worthless," Emilia began, not turning to face him. "It's true, they are just a weed but they're more than that too. Everyone knows that when they die they turn into those puff balls but you can't help but pick one and try to blow all the seeds off." Emilia turned to Zuko and walked up to him. She didn't meet his gaze at first, but after a moment she raised her head to look at him and removed the hat from his head.

"I see a Dandy Lion and see something that gives people a little bit of hope, like a bright star on a dark night," Emilia continued. "I don't think you're worthless Zuko; I think you're a strong, handsome, determined boy who's lost his way a little." Zuko scoffed and looked away from her. Emilia bit her lip and looked away too; that probably wasn't the best thing to say. He probably heard enough of that from Iroh; the last thing he probably needed was to listen to someone like her telling him all this crap. Emilia muttered out an apology and turned to leave.

"I have to find the Avatar . . . I have to go home . . ." Zuko said, his voice falling. Emilia turned back to him a little and bit her lip, looking back at the ground.

"I want to go home too," Emilia said. "You're lucky; all you have to do is kidnap some twelve-year-old. I don't even know where to start looking to find my way home." Emilia felt like she could start crying. It was true; she didn't even know how to get out of this place. All she wanted was to be in her room, surrounded by her Avatar posters and homework that she swore she'd get to as soon as the episode ended. A tear fell down Emilia's pale face, but she quickly wiped it away only to have another fall. Then another, and another. Before she had a chance to wipe them all away she felt a warm hand cup her chin and brush the salty liquid from her cheeks.

"When I return home, I'll help you find a way back to where you came from. Just do me one small favor," Emilia looked into Zuko's amber eyes and melted a little. He truly had beautiful eyes; the scar on his face did nothing to hinder it.

"O-okay," Emilia said, not sure what else she could say at a time like this.

"Please . . . promise you won't abandon me like everyone else?" He said it as a question. Emilia smiled and nodded her head. Zuko chuckled nervously before taking his hand back-he hadn't realized he'd left it on her face.

"Let's get you a bath then, I can smell you from a mile away."

"Look at these magnificent shells!" Iroh said happily, dumping a bag of shells onto the table. "I'll be enjoying these keepsakes for years to come." The trio had returned to their room for the night, ready for some sleep before they left in the morning. Emilia was sitting on the windowsill combing her hair out as the two fire benders conversed.

"We don't need any more useless things," Zuko scolded. "You forget; we have to carry everything ourselves now."

"Hello brother, Uncle," a creepy voice said from the back of the room. Emilia nearly fell off the edge she was sitting on as she looked over to where the voice came from.

"What are you doing here?" Zuko hissed. Emilia looked back and forth between the two siblings. Oh no, not this crap.

"In my country we exchange a pleasant 'hello' before asking questions," Azula sneered as she approached them. "Have you become uncivilized so soon, Zuzu?"

"Don't call me that!" Zuko barked.

"To what to we owe this honor?" Iroh asked, obviously trying to defuse an otherwise hairy situation.

"It must be a family trait; both of you so quick to get to the point," Azula crushed the seashell in her hand as she ended her sentence. Iroh shot her a dirty look and Emilia didn't seem too pleased with her either.

"I come with a message from home; Father's changed his mind. Family is suddenly very important to him," Azula told them. "He's heard rumors of plans to overthrow him; treacherous plots. Family are the only ones you can really trust. Father regrets your punishment; he wants you home."

"Liar," Emilia muttered under her breath, earning a dirty look from the rotten princess. Emilia shot a look right back, cracking her knuckles around her hairbrush.

"Did you hear me? You should be happy, excited, grateful. I just gave you great news."

"I'm sure your brother simply needs a moment-"

"Don't interrupt Uncle!" Azula snapped. "I'm still waiting for my thank you. I'm not a messenger; I didn't have to come all this way."

"Father regrets . . . he . . . wants me back?" Zuko said as though he still wasn't sure of what Azula was telling him.

"I can see you need time to take this in. I'll come to call on you tomorrow. Good evening." With that, Azula left. Emilia glared at her as she left. She looked back to Zuko to see he was still staring out the window. He obviously needed some time to think, or maybe he was waiting for Emilia to tell him that what she said was true or not. Either way, he wasn't going to say a word.

Zuko had left a little while ago to take a walk and clear his head. Emilia helped Iroh pack their things since they were leaving the next day, regardless of whether or not they took Azula up on her offer. Emilia felt the urge to tell them it was all a trap, but she decided against it. She wanted everything to run its natural course, just with her there to watch it happen. When Zuko came back he was happy as a lark and started packing his things. Iroh and Emilia looked at each other, worried expressions on both of their faces.

"We're going home," Zuko said happily. "After three long years, it's unbelievable." Iroh shook his head and Emilia put her face in her hands.

"It is unbelievable, I've never known my brother to regret anything," Iroh said, his voice hinting at something.

"Didn't you listen to Azula?" Zuko questioned. "Father's realized how important family is to him. He cares about me."

"I care about you," Iroh said standing up.

"I do too," Emilia chipped in.

"If Ozia wants you back, I don't think it will be for the reason you imagine," Iroh was still hinting that Azula's a dirty liar, but Zuko wasn't going to have it.

"You don't know how my father feels about me, you don't know anything."

"Zuko, I only meant that in our family things are not always what they seem,"

"I think you are exactly what you seem," Zuko said. "A Lazy, mistrustful, shallow old man who's always been jealous of his brother." Zuko left the cabin after that, leaving Iroh with a sorrowful look on his face. Emilia came up behind Iroh and gave him a hug in an attempt to cheer him up.

"He's just angry,"

"I know Emi, but it still hurts to hear him say that when he knows it's not true," Iroh said sadly. Emilia let out a sigh before leaving the cabin to fallow after Zuko.

"You're the shallow one you arrogant jerk," Emilia said when she'd finally caught up to Zuko. She grabbed hold of his shoulder and spun him around to face her. She looked angry and she had a right to be. All Iroh ever did was care for him and this is how he thanks him?

"Why couldn't he just let me have this one thing?" Zuko questioned me. "You can see the future, was Azula telling the truth or not?" Emilia rolled her eyes at him and ran her fingers through her hair angrily.

"What if it's not an answer you want? You gonna bitch me out like you did your uncle?" Emilia snapped. Zuko was taken aback by what she said.

"I'm sorry; like you said yourself . . . I just want to go home."

The trio made their way to the ship the next day like planned. Zuko had promised that if Azula wouldn't let her on the ship that he would have someone send for her when he got home. Emilia told him it was okay and that he didn't have to but he insisted. She knew it was wrong of her to not tell him it was all a trap, but what could she do. He looked so happy and who was she to take that happiness away? She would let Azula do that for him so he could end up hating her instead. Emilia stood at the edge of the dock and watched as Iroh and Zuko made their way to the ship. There was a part of her that was afraid things would actually work out and they would get on the ship and be taken prisoner, but she knew better. So far everything else had happened the right way so why should now be different?

"Brother. Uncle. Welcome," Azula greeted loudly. "I'm so happy you've decided to come." It was quiet for a moment and Emilia was beginning to worry.

"We're taking these prisoners home!" the captain shouted. That's when Emilia knew they were screwed. Emilia ran to where the others were and started hitting and kicking her way through the men. Taking them down was easier in theory. She had finally weaver her way through enough of the men to get to Iroh and started helping him fight them off.

"Come on, let's go!" Iroh shouted.

"Kick her ass later, come on hot head!" Emilia shouted, hoping her taunting would get him out of there faster. Zuko continued to fight so Emilia told Iroh to hurry up and help him. She watched the best she could while still fighting off the men around her. She heard a loud crack and saw that a bolt of lightning had hit the side of the cliff.

They had been running for what felt like forever when they finally collapsed at the side of a river. They were all out of breath, gasping for air.

"I think we're safe here," Iroh said. Emilia nodded and lay on the ground so the cool earth could help her cool off. She looked up to Zuko who had just pulled a knife out of his pocket. He stared at it for a moment before cutting the ponytail off his head. He handed the knife to Iroh who did the same thing. Emilia watched as they dropped their hair into the river and let it float away. The blond teen sat up and looked at them both for a long time. She felt a twinge of guilt. This all could have been avoided if she had told them what was going to happen. She hated seeing them looking like this, it was horrible.

A few hours later the group was successfully hidden in a small cave a few miles away. They had made a small fire and some fish were roasting on it for them to eat. Emilia had taken the knife from Zuko and was using it to cut the access hair off so it wouldn't grow weird. Iroh was more than happy to let Emilia take it off but Zuko was being a little cry baby. He kept saying he didn't want her scaring his head up because hair wouldn't grow out of the scar tissue.

"Zuko, stop complaining," Iroh told him as he took a bite of his fish. "At least it's her doing it and not me." Zuko grumbled making Emilia roll her eyes. There had to be an easier way to get him to stay still. That was when she got an amazing idea. She lowered her hands from his head and placed them on his shoulders, gently massaging the muscles.

"Emi, what are you doing?" Zuko asked a little irritated.

"Helping you relax now shut up or I really will cut you," Zuko sighed and let his head hang so Emilia could work her magic. He had to admit it felt really good, better than the masseuses at the spa. Emilia smirked to herself as he became putty in her hands. She started humming a song her chorus class was working on to help him relax more as she shifted her hands back to his head. In no time at all his head was completely bald, not a single stray hair.

"Why'd you stop?" Zuko asked softly. Emilia smirked and got close enough so her lips were right next to his ear.

"Remind me next time you decide to give me a hard time all I have to do is rub your shoulders," Zuko jerked his head up and blushed before bringing his hand to his head and feeling there was no more hair. He glared at her but she just smiled at him.


	4. Decisions, Decisions

**Auther's Note: Holy Jesus, I'm sorry it's been so long but I've been so busy lately. School just started and I've been bombed with homework and on top of that I just had my widom teeth removed so I'm in an excruciating amount of pain. Hopefully I can get back on track now**

**enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

><p>A few weeks later Iroh had mistaken a poisonous plant for one that makes tea and was incredibly sick. They had gone to a local town where there were some doctors who could help cure Iroh before the rash had a chance to kill him.<p>

"You three must not be from around here, we know better than to touch the White Jade much less make it into tea and drink it," the nurse taking care of Iroh said. Emilia was sitting in a chair next to Iroh while Zuko was against the wall pouting as usual. "So where are you traveling from?"

"Yes, we're travelers," Zuko said as he stood up. Emilia shook her head and rolled her eyes at the prince.

"Do you have names?" the nurse asked.

"Names? Of course we have names," Zuko said nervously. "I'm Lee, that's my uncle . . . Mushi, and our friend . . . um . . ."

"Mulan," Emilia said, using the only Chinese sounding name she could.

"Yes, my nephew was named after his father so we just call him Junior," Iroh said at an attempt to get back at Zuko for giving him a crappy name.

"Mushi, Junior, and Mulan huh?" the nurse said as a confirmation. "My name's Song. You three look like you could use a good meal. Why don't you stay for dinner?" Song slapped Iroh for scratching his rash and Emilia giggled a little as a result.

"Sorry, but we need to be moving on," Zuko said, being the pessimist he was.

"That's too bad; my mom always makes too much roast duck,"

"Where do you live exactly?" Iroh chimed in. If his love for tea didn't kill him one day his love for food would.

Dinner was wonderful, but the conversation could have been better. If only those women know the kind of crap Zuko had gone through they wouldn't have brought up his dad and he wouldn't have been in such a foul mood. He wouldn't even let Song touch his scar. The three stood outside the woman's house bid them farewell.

"Thank you for the duck, it was excellent," Iroh thanked the women.

"Yes, I've never tasted anything so tasty," Emilia added.

"You're welcome," the woman said. "It brings me joy to see someone eat my cooking with such . . . gusto."

"Much practice," Iroh said, patting his belly like and old man would. Emilia giggled then turned her attention to Zuko as he walked away.

"Junior, where are your manners?" Iroh questioned. "You need to thank these nice people." Zuko turned around against his better judgment and bowed a little.

"Thank you," he said before turning to leave.

"I know you don't think there's any hope left, but there is hope," Song called after him. "The Avatar has returned."

"I know."

As the three of them walked away Zuko spotted an Ostrich horse out of the corner of his eye. He looked at it for a moment before approaching it and taking the reins. Iroh and Emilia looked back at him in shock.

"What are you doing?" Iroh questioned. "These people just showed you a great kindness."

"They're about to show us a little more kindness. Are you coming?" Zuko offered the two his hand and they both were reluctant to take it. But they did and they all rode off to lord knows where next.

Emilia hated camping with a burning passion and they had been doing it nearly every night for amonth. As of right now the trio were in some random town begging for money. Zuko was grumpy as usual and Emilia was just tired. She wondered how Iroh could have all this energy o be for money.

"This is ridiculous," Zuko pouted. "We're royalty; these people should be giving us whatever we want."

"It's either beg or steal and I personally prefer the former," Emilia said, leaning her head on the nearest object, which was Zuko's shoulder. He looked at her and rolled his eyes before looking away.

"They will if you ask them," Iroh said before standing in front of a woman that was about to pass them by. "Spare change for a hungry old man?" The woman giggled at Iroh before giving him some coins in his cup. Iroh kept it up until another man came by.

"How about some entertainment in exchange for a gold piece," the man asked. Iroh was more than happy to get up and preform for something like a gold piece.

"_It's a long, long way to Ba Sing Se. But the girls in the city, they are so pretty_" That obviously wasn't enough for the man because he started swinging his swords at Iroh's feet to make him jump. Zuko didn't like that and his body was heating up because of it.

"Zuko calm down, you're gonna burn my ear off," Emilia said sitting up and looking at what was going on. By this time the man had stopped and had given the gold piece to Iroh. He then turned his attention to Emilia who was rubbing her eyes from having dozed off.

"I'll give you a whole string of gold pieces for your girl here," The man said.

"She's not for sale," Zuko said angrily. This man was really starting to get on his nerves. Emilia looked at Zuko for a moment and wondered why his words seemed to drip with venom as he spoke. She returned her attention to the man before her. He looked like the kind of guy who picked up hookers every night and since she was just sitting there he must have assumed these two men were her caretakers.

"I bite . . . very, very hard," Emilia said, glaring at the man. He seemed persistent and kept staring at her like a piece of meat. There were only a few ways to get the creep to go away but before she could think of one that didn't involve violence Zuko put his arm around and made her lay her head back on his shoulder. The man gave Zuko a dirty look before leaving.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

There wasn't enough money for them to even share a room for the night so they went back to the woods to sleep there. Zuko was leaving more than he should and Emilia had a suspicion as to why. Her suspicions were confirmed when he came back to camp with baskets full of food. Iroh and Emilia eyed it for a moment before their gaze shifted back to the bearer.

"Where did you get these?" Iroh questioned.

"What does it matter where they came from?" Zuko replied.

Emilia wasn't buying his act so she decided to fallow him. He was sneaking around the forest like some sort of bandit and Emilia couldn't put her finger on why. Everything made sense when she saw him ambushing a carriage. The next thing she knew he was headed to the town with a chest of money she had stolen from the man in the carriage. She tried to fallow him more but she got lost and decided to turn back. She didn't get back until late and the camp was full of what looked like incredibly expensive things.

"Looks like you did some serious shopping, but where did you get the money?" Iroh said as he too entered the camp and saw everything. Emilia was still in shock at what she was looking at but she sat down next to what looked like a trunk of new clothes.

"Do you like your new tea pot?" Zuko asked as though Iroh hadn't said a word. Iroh inspected the pot briefly before setting it down, his face seeming to fall.

"To be honest with you the best tea tastes delicious whether it comes in a porcelain pot or a tin cup," Iroh said. He saw through the façade Zuko was putting on and he seemed a little ashamed that his nephew would do something like this. In situations like this Zuko would look to Emilia to see if her future seeing would aid him in any way. She just looked at him with a disappointed expression.

"I know we've had some difficult times lately," Iroh continued as he got up and went to sit by Zuko. Emilia fallowed suit taking a seat the opposite side Iroh had. "We've had to struggle just to get by, but it's nothing to be ashamed of. There's a simple honor in poverty."

"You're uncle's right Zuko," Emilia said. "I grew up having to go without because my mom and dad needed the money for something more important. Besides, all these things will just weigh us down."

"There's no honor for me without the Avatar, you both know that," Zuko explained.

"Zuko," Iroh let out an exasperated sigh. "Even if you did capture the Avatar, I'm not so sure it would solve our problems; not now."

"There is no hope at all," Zuko said pushing his way past Emilia to leave. Luckily Iroh grabbed him and Emilia had her hands on his chest so he couldn't get away as easily.

"No Zuko, you must never give in to despair," Iroh said. "Allow yourself to slip down that road and you surrender to your lowest instincts. In the darkest times hope is something you give yourself; that is the meaning of inner strength." Emilia listened to the words as if they were being spoken to her too. She knew how it felt to be hopeless. She had about given up on all her chances to ever get home but there was always that shred of hope that someday she would wake up and everything would be okay again.

Iroh and Zuko looked at each other for what felt like forever before he turned to look at Emilia too. Before she could say something he pushed past her and stormed off. Emilia let out a sigh and looked at Iroh who seemed just as upset as she was. There really was no getting through to that boy. She knew she wasn't as good a talker as Iroh but Zuko always seemed to cheer up if she put her two sense in. Emilia got up to fallow after him but Iroh grabbed hold of her wrist and stopped her.

"What he needs now is time to think," Iroh said.

"He'll be okay . . . won't he?" Emilia seemed worried but Iroh smiled that gentle old man smile that melted all her worries away.

"Of course he will. Now let's test out this new tea pot."

After a long nights sleep Iroh and Emilia decided it would probably be best if they moved on for now. The longer they stayed in one place the greater chance they had of running into Azula or some Fire Nation soldiers who would turn them in to Azula. Neither were really good options. Emilia was starting to worry that Zuko wouldn't be back yet in time so she tried to pack more slowly. Her face lit up when she heard a set of footsteps coming towards them. She turned and saw none other than the prince himself.

"Uncle, I thought a lot about what you said," Zuko said.

"You did? Good, good,"

"It's helped me realize something." Zuko went on. "We no longer have anything to gain by traveling together. I need to find my own way." Emilia looked back and forth between the two fire benders. This shouldn't happen; Zuko should just suck it up and stay with his uncle, why couldn't he just see that? Zuko walked over to his bag and picked it up before turning away from them.

"Wait," Iroh called. Zuko turned and took the reins of the ostrich horse and then looked back at Emilia.

"Emi, it's up to you but I would enjoy your company along my journey," He said. He stood in his place for a few seconds before continuing on. What was she to do? She wanted to go with Zuko but she wanted to stay with Iroh. She felt torn with what to do until Iroh placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Go with him," he told her. "I can take care of myself, but he needs someone to baby sit him a little." He chuckled at the last part making Emilia smile a little.

"We'll meet again," Emilia told him.

"That we shall, my little fortune teller," Iroh said, wrapping Emilia in a hug. "Zuko is my only nephew and I love him dearly, but over the months I've come to known you you've become like a daughter to me. I love you dearly as well, Emilia." Emilia felt a tear come to her eye; this was the hardest good-bye she ever had to go through.

"This isn't good-bye," she told him. "Good-bye means going away and going away means forgetting. I won't forget about you Uncle."

"You better get going before he gets too far away," Iroh told her. Emilia nodded and wiped a stray tear from her eye. She grabbed her bag and ran to catch up with Zuko.


	5. Progress Made

Zuko hadn't made it that far before she caught up to him. Zuko offered Emilia his hand

so she could get on the ostrich horse and she accepted it gratefully. They didn't look at each other the entire time. It wasn't until that night when they made camp that Zuko decided to say something.

"What does the future tell you now, Emilia?" Emilia looked at him then back at the small fire between them.

"I'm not your personal fortune teller, Zuko," Emilia snapped. "I'm a human just like you. The only reason you wanted me to come was so I could tell you if something was a good idea or not. God, you're such a dick."

Emilia got up and walked over to a small stream that was flowing a few feet away. She watched it move and tossed a pebble into it to watch the waves. She didn't know how she had a crush on this guy, he was a complete jerk. Helping her find her way home was probably a lie too. He probably just told her that to make her stay with him. How could he help her get home anyway when she didn't even know how she got to this place to begin with? One minute she was in her kitchen trying to stop a fire and the next she was in a ship that was on fire too. She just wanted to wake up; that was the only thing that would make her happy at this point. She just wanted to go home.

Some rustling behind her made Emilia turn around and glare at whoever made the noise. She was surprised to see Zuko there but turned around so he couldn't see it in her face. He came up next to her and sat down, looking at the water with her. Emilia glared at her reflection, not knowing what else she was supposed to glare at. She was angry and sad and confused all at the same time and she didn't know how to deal with it all. She had never felt so many contradicting things all at once. She wanted to cry but at the same time she wanted to punch something until it broke. She heard humming and looked over to Zuko to see he was the one doing it. Surprisingly it was the song she had hummed to him when she was shaving the last of his top-knot off.

"How do you remember that song?" Emilia asked, rather dumbfounded.

"It's been stuck in my head ever since I heard you humming it," Zuko confessed. "What's it called?"

"The Rivers Are Running Again," Emilia said simply. It was her idea to sing it and her teacher had never been more happy with her. Students didn't normally pick songs like that so it's wasn't a surprise that he had the students sing it.

"Will you sing it for me?"

"Why? So you can make fun of me or something?"

"No, I just want to hear the words." So Emilia started singing the soprano part, doing her best not to look at Zuko as she did so. When she was finished she waited for Zuko to say something and when he didn't she looked at him. He was in completely awe, but Emilia didn't understand why.

"Did I suck that bad?" Emilia questioned. Zuko quickly snapped out of his trance and shook his head.

"No, it was beautiful," Zuko told her. Emilia felt a blush tinge her cheeks so she looked away so he couldn't see it. Zuko looked at her; trying to read her movements. She was always so hard to understand, it was like she was from a different world. There was something about her that made her different from the other women he'd come into contact with. Maybe it was the way her eyes lit up when she smiled or the way her hair shimmered when the light hit it just right. It may have even been the way that she treated Zuko like he was a person just like her and not a banished prince. He liked the last one the best.

"Look, fireflies," Emilia said, taking Zuko out of his little trance. He looked up to see that they were starting to come out of their hiding places and light up the area. Emilia shot to her feet and started trying to catch them. Zuko fallowed her and attempted to do the same, but he wasn't doing a very good job. Emilia saw this and decided she would help.

"There's an art to it, trust me," She told him. "Just cup your hands like this and fallow the light." She showed Zuko how to do it and fallowed him around until he finally managed to catch one. He opened his hands to look at it and watched as it crawled over his fingers. He was like a little kid with all this; it was like no one ever took him to catch fireflies before. Then again no one was probably ever around to.

After about ten minutes of catching and releasing the insects the pair went back to the fire and lay on the ground. Emilia looked up at the stars and started counting all the constellations she could see. Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Draco the Dragon, Orion the Hunter, even the Pisces Fish were visible. At least there was one thing that didn't change no matter where you were.

"Emilia?"

"Yea?"

"What was your family like?" family . . . the thought made her a little sad. She missed them so much and she was so afraid that she would never get the chance to see them again.

"My mom was a really happy person while my dad was always worried about work," Emilia explained. "I was always competing with my brother to be the better one but he always beat me somehow. Everyone tells me I look like my mom when she was my age but I got my dad's eyes." Talking about her parents made her smile; she hadn't talked about them since the first day she was here.

"It's horrible though, the way I treated them the day I left," Emilia went on. "I had gotten into a fight with my mom-she was complaining because of my outfit that day. She said I should dress like a normal person instead of some skanky teen. I said such horrible things to her. The last thing I said to her was that I hated her." Emilia was crying by this time. She sat up and covered her face with her hands. She had told her own mother she hated her and that was probably the last thing her mom will have to remember her by.

The next thing Emilia knew was that someone was holding her in their arms. She looked up and saw Zuko tightly embracing her. He was stroking her hair and hushing her sobs. Emilia looked up at him and he looked down at her. He brushed some tears away from her face and cupped her cheek gently in his hand. She didn't know why but she had the compelling urge to kiss him; so she did. His lips were soft and gentle like they would be the first time you kiss someone. Feeling embarrassed Emilia pulled away and looked down. She started mumbling out apologies but Zuko placed two fingers under her chin and lifted her face up before planting another kiss on her lips. Emilia kissed back, wrapping her arms around Zuko to get better access. The kiss lasted for maybe a minute but it felt like much longer than that. Pulling away left an empty feeling in both the teens.

"Wow . . ." Emilia breathed.

"Yea, wow . . ." Zuko replied. They looked at each other for a moment before separating and returning to their own spots on each side of the fire.

They didn't talk about what happened the night before; they just kept going down the road to whatever town was next. Emilia didn't want to ride the ostrich horse with Zuko so she just walked beside it. He told her it was okay and he could walk but she assured him it was okay. That was really the only conversation they'd had with each other. Emilia was confused about what happened. Why had Zuko willingly kissed her and then turned around and acted like it didn't happen. Then again she was doing the exact same thing. God, this felt like middle school all over again. She had kissed this guy at a Christmas party then at school the next day they both acted like it never happened. She had a crush on him and was planning to tell him but before she knew it the guy already had another girlfriend.

They had been traveling for a few hours and the road seemed like it was going on. Emilia's feet were starting to hurt but she wouldn't let him know that; she was too proud. Zuko was noticing the way she was walking and decided that he had to try to get her on the ostrich horse.

"Emi get on this thing before your feet are covered in blisters," Zuko said, not looking at her.

"I'm fine," Emilia lied. Zuko rolled his eyes and dismounted the ostrich horse and grabbed Emilia's hand making her look at him.

"Just get on, okay?" Emilia rolled her eyes and kept walking. She wasn't going to let him tell her what to do.

"Look, I don't need to ride that thing," Emilia told him. "I'm fine."

"I'll say. You got yourself a real looker there," A voice said. Emilia and Zuko turned to look at where the voice came from. There was a group of rather buff guys who looked like they wanted to cause some trouble. Zuko scowled at them and grabbed Emilia's arm and pulled her back towards him. The guys came closer and surrounded them.

"Why don't you come with us? What do you need that creep for anyway," another one of the guys asked.

"Why don't you guys flake off?" Emilia questioned; her voice venomous.

"Come on toots, you're coming with us," another guys said as he grabbed Emilia and pulled her away from Zuko. She screamed and tried to get away but the only thing that accomplished was having the guys cling her over his shoulder like a potato sack.

"Let her go!" Zuko shouted, drawing his swords and charging at the men. One of them was an earth bender and was using it to his advantage. Emilia wanted to tell him to use his fire bending but that was the last thing they needed at this moment. She kept kicking and screaming in an attempt to get out of his grasp.

"Zuko just use your fire bending!" Emilia shouted, feeling that they were out of options. When the men heard her say his name they got a little more excited. There was a plentiful bounty on his head at the moment and they knew that if they captured him they'd be rich.

Zuko did as Emilia told him and started fire bending his way out of this situation. He took out the earth bender first then the second man who had a big sword to fight with. The last one left was the one with Emilia. He didn't know how to approach him without hurting her so he didn't attack at first. The man knew having Emilia in his arms was giving him the upper hand so he repositioned her so she was in front of him. Zuko glared at the man; he was using her as a shield. He looked at her with a sorry look and she looked at him, nodding her head. She knew what he would have to do to get her out of this and she knew it would end up with her getting burned.

Zuko silently apologized before running at the man and knocking him off his feet. He lost his grip and dropped Emilia so now Zuko had a chance to knock him out. He got up in the guy's face and punched him square in the jaw making him cry out in pain. This gave Zuko the chance to pick Emilia up bridal style and jump on the ostrich horse. Emilia looked back at the men as they got smaller and smaller the father away they got. She let out a sigh of relief and lay her head on Zuko's shoulder. She was still sitting across his lap but at the moment she didn't care.

"I'm sorry, now they're gonna tell people you're out here," Emilia apologized. Zuko looked down at her and took her lips in a rather needy kiss.

"You aren't walking anymore," he told her when he pulled away. Emilia chuckled a little and nodded her head before reached up to grab the back of his head and pull him down for another kiss.


	6. Discovering One's Self

Emilia and Zuko had been traveling for what felt like forever even though it had only been about a month. They had run out of food a few days ago and their water supply had just gone out too. The ostrich horse was getting tired too since it hadn't eaten in the same amount of time the other two had. Zuko was getting a little cranky which was to be expected and Emilia was just miserable. After this experience she would never complain about anything ever again. Both their stomachs were growling; it was getting to the point where they were painfully hungry. Zuko had had almost passed out a time or two and Emilia had nearly fallen off the ostrich horse. There was a little glimmer of hope when they approached a town. They really only needed some food and supplies and they could be on their way again. Emilia had suggested more than once that they just stay somewhere for more than one night but Zuko's response was always that he needed to find the Avatar and blah, blah, blah.

Upon entering the town it seemed like this wasn't the kind of place they wanted to be either. There were run down shacks and a group of what looked like thugs were gambling in the street. Emilia shuddered at the thought of running into them in a dark alley. Zuko just looked at them briefly before stopping at a shop.

"Can I get some water, some feed and something hot to eat?" he asked the clerk as he showed him their money. The man looked at it then gave Zuko a solemn look.

"Not enough for a hot meal," he said. "I can get you two bags of feed." Emilia groaned a little and crossed her arms, leaning on the counter. She saw something move out of the corner of her eye and the next thing she knew an egg went flying through the air and hit one of the men in the head. Emilia quickly turned around as the men approached.

"You throwing eggs at us stranger?" he asked.

"No," Zuko said simply.

"You see who did throw it?"

"No." Zuko turned around and put his hand on his sword but Emilia put her hand on his as a warning.

"That your favorite word; no?" another one of the men asked. Emilia shot him a look and tightened her grip on Zuko's hand.

"The egg had to come from somewhere."

"Maybe a chicken flew over," Zuko stated simply as he turned around. One of the men started laughing as the clerk brought out the feed. Zuko was about to grab it when the leader of the thugs took it.

"Thanks for the contribution," He said. "We appreciate your support."

"Hey! That's ours asshole!" Emilia shouted after him. He turned and looked back at them, his fingers twitching over the hammers at his side.

"You and your girlfriend better leave town," he warned. "The penalty for staying's a lot steeper than you can afford, stranger; trust me." He patted the hammer at his side as if to emphasize his point. He walked away and Emilia mentally gave him the finger.

"Those soldiers are supposed to protect us from the fire nation," the clerk explained. "But they're just a bunch of thugs."

"Assholes . . ." Emilia muttered before returning to the ostrich horse with Zuko. A boy popped up from the other side of it and looked at them with a toothy grin.

"Thanks for not ratting me out," the boy said. Zuko ignored him and got on the ostrich horse and pulled Emilia up behind him. The kid ran up behind them and grabbed the reins of the ostrich horse.

"I'll take you home and feed your ostrich horse for you," the boy said cheerfully. "I owe you." He started running and the ostrich horse took off too. Zuko looked at Emilia and she just smiled. He rolled his eye, probably thinking that this was a waste of time. The two had gotten off the ostrich horse and kept walking towards the boy's house. As they approached the house all the pigs started squealing at them like they were intruders or something.

"At least no one can sneak up on us," the boy said.

"No kidding," Zuko said; a hint of humor in his voice. The boy ran ahead and put the ostrich horse in the barn. Emilia tapped Zuko on the shoulder and made a gesture that told him to smile. He rolled his eyes but picked the corner of his lip up in a half smile. A man approached them the eyed them a moment before he spoke.

"You friends of Lee's?" the man asked. Before they could answer the little boy-whose name was probably Lee-came out of the barn and rushed up to the man.

"These guys just stood up to the soldiers!" Lee exclaimed happily. "By the end they practically had them running away."

"Do these two have names?" a woman-who was probably Lee's mother-asked.

"Well, um . . ." Zuko muttered.

"We're, um . . ." Emilia hesitated. She was at a loss for words too.

"They don't have to tell us who they are if they don't want to, Seila," the man said. "Anyone who can hold their own against those bully soldiers is welcome here. Those men should be ashamed to wear Earth Kingdom uniforms."

"The real soldiers are off fighting in the war," Seila told them. "Like Lee's brother Sen Su. Supper's going to be ready soon; would you like to stay?" Emilia was about to accept the offer when Zuko cut her off.

"We can't," he said. "We should be moving on." Emilia looked at him with a look of utter shock. They hadn't had anything to eat in a week and both of them were starving so why would they just keep going?

"Gonsu could use some help on the barn," Seila said, trying to convince the stubborn boy to change his mind. "Why don't you two work for a while and me and your friend can prepare dinner. Then we can eat."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea, Seila," Emilia said. All Zuko did was nod.

The two went their separate ways after that. The idea of Zuko doing a lot of physical labor made Emilia giggle. Then again the idea of her cooking was awful too. The most she could make was Mac n' Cheese and she didn't think they'd have any of that here. She did her best though, getting several odd looks from Seila. Emilia shrugged it off, trying to play it off like she knew what she was doing. She decided to get her mind off the food and look out the window to see what Zuko was doing. That was a bad idea. The way he swung the hammer was making her stomach bubble up with something. She shook her head and ignored the feeling before returning to cooking.

Emilia tried not to look at Zuko while they ate, not wanting the image of him working to come back in her head. Seila must have noticed because she smiled at the young girl at the other side of the table. Being a married woman she obviously knew what it was like for someone to like someone and not know if the liked you back. Sure he had kissed her a few times and didn't really say anything when people accused them of being boyfriend and girlfriend but that really didn't mean anything. She was just his precious little fortune teller and the pouty prince didn't want anyone taking her away.

Seila and Gonsu invited them to stay and Emilia accepted before Zuko had a chance to tell them no. They needed a good night's sleep so they would have enough energy to go somewhere else in the morning. Even though he kept protesting Zuko was the first one to fall asleep on the bundles of hay. He looked so cute when he was sleeping but he still had that determined look on his face. Emilia ignored it and lay next to him so she could get some sleep too.

Emilia woke up to the sounds of someone walking around. She shot up and took a fighting stance but relaxed when she saw it was just Zuko.

"Don't scare me like that," Emilia scolded. "What are you doing up in the middle of the night anyway?"

"Lee took my swords and was playing with them," Zuko said simply, laying down and resting his hands behind his head. Emilia lay down on her side and propped her head up with one of her arms. She looked at Zuko staring at the ceiling; he seemed like he was thinking about something.

"He just wants his brother back . . ." Zuko said quietly. Emilia was taken aback a little but then softened her features and smiled. She laid her head on Zuko's chest and cuddle up to his side making him stiffen up a little.

"Act tough all you want, but we both know that you're just a softy," Zuko looked at her for a moment before wrapping and arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer to him.

It was time to leave the next day so Zuko and Emilia packed their things up to leave. They both mounted the now fed and very happy ostrich horse and the family was there to see them off.

"Here, this should get you through a few meals," Seila said handing them some leftover food from the night before. Emilia accepted it graciously and thanked her for her kindness. The ground started to rumble making everyone look out onto the road. There was a big puff of dust with the thugs from the day before in front of it.

"What do you think they want?" Gonsu questioned.

"Trouble," Zuko replied. The pigs started squealing as they approached and they skidded to a halt.

"What do you want Gao?" Gonsu questioned angrily.

"Just thought you ought to know that your son's battalion got captured," Gao said smoothly. Gonsu looked simply shocked. This was just bad, who knows what the Fire Nation would do to them once they were in cells. "You hear what the Fire Nation did with you last group of Earth Kingdom soldiers they captured?"

"Dressed them up in Fire Nation uniforms and stuck them on the front line unarmed; the way I heard it," one of the men said snidely. "Then they just watched."

"You watch your mouth!" Gonsu warned. Gao growled and charged his ostrich horse at the old man but Zuko moved his in the way. They stared each other down for a moment before Gao got irritated.

"Why bother rooting around in the mud with these pigs?" Gao questioned before turning and leaving.

"They wouldn't do that to them, would they?" Emilia asked Zuko, worry in her voice.

"Yea, they would."

"What's gonna happen to my brother?" Lee asked sadly.

"I'm going to the front," Gonsu stated. "I'm going to find Sen Su and bring him back." Seila started crying but went back to the house to help her husband get ready to leave. Lee stayed behind and rushed to the ostrich horse, but didn't meet either of its rider's eyes.

"When my dad leaves . . . will you guys stay?" He looked up at then sadly.

"No, we have to be moving on," Zuko said, obviously letting the boy down. He reached into his pack and pulled out a dagger and handed it to Lee.

"I want you to have this," he said. "Read the inscription."

"'Made in Earth Kingdom.'"

"Read the other one."

"'Never give up without a fight,'" Zuko didn't stick around to see if Lee wanted to say anything else. Emilia watched as he got farther away but turned around and watched the road ahead.

The two had stopped just outside the town for a moment of rest. Zuko seemed a little out of sorts and Emilia couldn't say no when he asked to stop. She had gone to pick some flowers for him in hopes that they would cheer him up. She didn't know if he even liked wild flowers but she had to try something. On her way back she heard Zuko muttering something to himself but couldn't for the life of her make it out. By the time Emilia returned with the flowers Seila had arrived in a horse drawn carriage and she looked rather frantic.

"You have to help," she said jumping off the carriage. "It's Lee; those thugs from town came back after Gonsu left and when they ordered us to give them food Lee pulled a knife on them. I don't even know where he got a knife." Zuko looked at the ground and Emilia nearly dropped her flowers.

"Then they took him away," she went on. "They said if she was old enough to fight he's old enough to join the army."-at this point she was in tears.-"I know we barely know you, but-"

"I'll get your son back," Zuko interrupted. He didn't stop to converse more he just went to the ostrich horse and got on it.

"Go somewhere safe, Seila," Emilia told her. "I don't want you getting hurt." Emilia mouthed the ostrich horse after Zuko and they went on their way. She tried to search her memory for what happened during the fight so she could help Zuko but she wasn't as familiar with this one as she had been with the one with Zhao. Zuko must have sensed her worries because he grabbed her and that was wrapped around his torso so she didn't fall off.

"What does the future tell you now?" He asked.

"If you're asking me to help you I was already going to," Emilia told him, taking his hand too and giving it a little squeeze. "Just don't get cocky, okay?"

It was sunset before they had reached the town. The thugs had Lee tied to a post like he was some animal. It made Emilia sick that they would do something like that to a child. They were no better than the Fire Nation doing something like that. Lee must have heard them because he looked up and gave a rather toothy smile.

"Hey, there he is," Lee exclaimed happily. "I told you he'd come." The thugs looked at them and boy were they angry. It was as if the duo had interrupted some kind of plan of theirs. Zuko and Emilia dismounted the ostrich horse as Gao and his men approached. Zuko was staring them down but they stood their ground. Emilia stayed back so she could help Zuko more but she knew that if looks could kill all of them would be dead.

"Let the kid go," Zuko said sternly causing Gao to chuckle. If only he knew who he was dealing with, he wouldn't be chuckling like that. In fact he wouldn't be laughing at all.

"Who do you think you are?" Gao questioned. "Telling us what to do."

"It doesn't matter who I am, but I know who you are," Zuko stated. "You're not soldiers; you're bullies. Freeloaders abusing their power mostly over women and kids. You don't want Lee in your army; your sick cowards messing with a family that's already lost one son to the war." The thugs gave Zuko dirty looks for his speech.

"Are you going to let this stranger stand there and insult you like this?" Gao asked his boys. The first one charged at Zuko but he easily knocked him down with the handle of his sword. As an extra blow to the guy's ego he crawled away like a little coward. The next guy was even more pathetic since all Zuko had to do was hit him in the chest and knock him on the ground. The last guy charged at him with a spear but Zuko kicked his leg up and broke it in half. The only one left was Gao. He grabbed his hammers in his hands and Zuko drew his swords.

"Be careful, he's an earth bender," Emilia warned. "He hits the ground with one hammer and uses the other to send it flying at you."

Like Emilia had sad, Gao hit the ground and sent a rock flying at Zuko, but he easily deflected it. Gao repeated the process and made a stack of rocks surface so he could hit them. Zuko deflected them with ease but they pushed him back with every blow. Now it was Zuko's turn to be on the offensive so he charged. Gao kept sending rocks his way and Zuko kept deflecting them until one hit him in the gut, sending him flying. He held his stomach for a moment as Gao prepared for a deadly blow.

"Turn around, moron!" Emilia shouted along with the other town's people who were warning him of the danger. He turned around just in time to deflect some more rocks. Gao kept throwing rocks at him and Emilia kept shouting out directions for Zuko to go so he didn't get hit. She was a little late on the draw when a big spike came barreling at him and jabbed him in the stomach. He went flying backwards and hit the ground hard. Emilia ran faster than she thought possible to get to his side. It looked like he hit his head really hard and that's never good. She placed a hand under his head to try and cushion it from the hard ground and tapped his face a little to get him to wake up. She looked up to see Gao approaching, his hammers raised ever so slightly.

"Get up, hot head!" Emilia commanded. The next thing she knew his eyes had shot open and he pushed her away before swinging his blades and making a ring of fire; knocking Gao back in the process. Emilia looked at him in shock and mentally cursed him for resorting to that. The ground around him was on fire and when he stood he was glaring at Gao-it was enough to make him look like a demon out of hell. Everyone stared in awe as Zuko used his fire bending to push Gao to the ground and have him backed into a corner.

"Who are you?" Gao asked, his voice weak.

"My name is Zuko; son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozia. Prince of the Fire Nation and heir to the throne."

"Zuko, what the hell are you doing?" Emilia whispered harshly as she approached him.

"Liar! I've hear of you, you're an outcast!" and old man shouted, earning a glance from Zuko and a death glare from Emilia. "His own father burned and disowned him."

"That's a damn fine way to thank someone who just kicked your town bullies ass!" Emilia shouted at them but Zuko gestured for her to stop as he reached down to get his knife back. She followed him as he walked up to Lee and his mother. Seila stood in front of her son as if to protect him.

"Not a step closer," she warned. Zuko stayed where he was but got on one knee and held the knife out.

"It's yours, you should have it," he told Lee.

"No, I hate you," Lee said before running off.

"Ungrateful, every last one of them," Emilia muttered under her breath. Zuko didn't say a word and just lead her back to the ostrich horse. Everyone watched them leave as though they were filth. Emilia couldn't fathom why they would treat him like that. Sure he was the Fire Lord's son but he had helped them. She was so mad she could scream but she didn't for fear of scaring their ride.

"You may not be a fire bender but your hands get hot when you're angry," Zuko stated calmly.

"How can I not be?" Emilia asked. "You helped those people and saved Lee's life and they shunned you like a monster. It's not right, Zuko."

"It doesn't matter, people hate my family for starting this war so it's only fair that they hate me for existing." The two were silent for a while. Emilia didn't know what to say to make him feel better this time. She wished Iroh was here to give them one of his dumb proverbs, but he wasn't. Emilia wrapped her arms around Zuko's torso in an attempt to hug him and rested her head on his back between his shoulder blades.

"I don't hate you for existing," she told him. "You saved my life a while back and I'm grateful for that. And besides, I'm proud of you for doing the right thing back there." Like before Zuko placed his hand on Emilia's and gave it a squeeze; though this time it was tighter than the last.

"Just don't abandon me too," he pleaded softly. "I don't think I can do this without you here with me."


	7. Not Always About the Avatar

It felt like it had been weeks since they had last stopped. Zuko refused to stop

because he had this big idea that he was getting oh so close to finding the Avatar. Emilia

wanted sobadly to tellhim that it wasn't going to happen but she was just going to keep her

mouth shut and rode on the back of the stupid ostrich horse. By now it was getting dark and

both were tired and ready for some food and much needed rest. Emilia was busy looking for a

water source at the moment. She hadn't bathed or even washed her clothes in what felt like

forever. She tried to do it while Zuko wasn't looking so he didn't see anything. After looking

for about fifteen minutes Emilia found what she was looking for and quickly stripped her

clothes of and took a stop into the cold water. She rinsed herself off and washed her hair

with what she assumed was soap. It wasn't the best for her hair but at the moment she was

out of options.

"Emilia, where are you?" Zuko's voice called. Dammit, he was looking for her and she was stark naked. She quickly got out of the water and wrapped her over coat around her just as Zuko came from behind a tree.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know," Zuko started apologizing left and right about almost catching her naked. His cheeks were the same shade of pink as Emilia's as they both stood there. Neither of them said anything and neither of them really looked at each other. Emilia wasn't done with her bath but she didn't want to be rude and tell him to buzz off. As for Zuko his hormones were raging and he didn't know what to do about it.

"I'm just gonna . . . yea," Zuko said before walking back to camp. When he was far enough away Emilia stripped and got back in the river.

When she got back Zuko was sitting by the fire watching the flames dance over the logs. Emilia sat opposite him and watched the fire as well. She was still a little embarrassed about what had happened and she assumed Zuko was too. She didn't know why she couldn't just tell him she liked him so that maybe things would be less awkward. Of course it would be even worse if he didn't return the feelings but there was always a chance that he would. She caught him looking at her and wondered how long he had been before she noticed him. Emilia looked back at the fire before finally deciding it was now or never. She got on her hands and knees and crawled over to him. He watched her curiously but calmed down a bit when she just sat next to him. It was quiet again; nothing making a sound except the crackle of the flames. Emilia decided to make another bold move and rest her head on Zuko's shoulder. He stiffened up a little but relaxed after a moment. The prince looked at her but she was still staring at the fire. He didn't know why this girl made him so nervous but she did. He decided to swallow his nervousness and wrap and arm around her shoulder. They stayed like that until they lay down to go to sleep. Emilia had her head on his chest and Zuko had an arm wrapped protectively around her. Neither said a word or made any kind of motion as they fell asleep.

They were up bright and early the next morning but neither spoke about the night before. Zuko's hormones were raging and the last thing he needed was thinking about nearly seeing Emilia naked. Emilia was embarrassed about it too and wondered what Zuko was thinking. She assumed his mind had wondered to finding the Avatar again so there was no way she could be able to get a word in. Emilia had assumed her spot behind Zuko on the ostrich horse as he steered the thing in any direction he thought would take him to Aang.

"You'll never find him," Emilia muttered to herself. Zuko turned in his seat to look at her obviously having heard her.

"I'm what?" He questioned angrily.

"I said you'll never find him," Emilia said simply. Zuko stopped the ostrich horse and dismounted it nearly knocking Emilia off in the process. He looked at her angrily and she looked at him just as angry.

"So now you've given up on me too?" he questioned. Emilia rolled her eyes and got off the ostrich horse as well.

"I'm the one who can see the future and you're assuming I've given up on you?" Emilia said; her voice accusatory.

"You don't have to tell me I'm gonna fail!" Zuko shouted getting up in Emilia's face.

"Would you rather I just let you fuck up?"

"I'd rather you kept your peasant mouth shut!"

"Oh so I'm a peasant now?"

"You always have been; I don't even know why I wanted you to travel with me!"

"I don't know why I'm even attracted to you, you're such a jerk!"

"I don't know why I'm attracted to you either; all you do is nag me!"

"Maybe it's because I care about you!"

"Maybe I'm a jerk all the time because I'm worried you'll get yourself into trouble!"

"You get yourself into more trouble than I do!"

"Please tell me you want to kiss me as much as I want to kiss you!

"I'm surprised you even have to ask that question!" The two then threw themselves at each other and locked lips with each other. Emilia locked her arms tightly around Zuko's neck and Zuko wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. Zuko pressed Emilia's back against a nearby tree and pulled her even closer-if that was even possible. Emilia wanted to taste more of him so she ran her tongue over his lips. He eagerly opened his mouth to let her tongue come into contact with his. A shiver went town his spine at the contact. She tasted so sweet even though neither of they had eaten anything sweet in a while. Zuko tasted pretty nice too, like hot drops and sugar; an amazingly wonderful combination.

Zuko was the first to pull away but he didn't let her go. Instead he moved to her neck and started kissing and nibbling on it. Emilia did her best not to make any noise but he hit a certain spot making her gasp and whimper a little. She decided she had to press his buttons a little too. She ran her hands down his chest and wrapped them around his torso. She lifted her leg up and wrapped it around his hip and led Zuko's arm to hold onto it before she started grinding her hips into his a little. Zuko let out a groan and pulled away a little to look at her. They were both out of breath a little and both were obviously aroused.

"Zuko . . . I-" before she could finish some white clumps of fur flew down from the sky and landed on Zuko's shoulder. He looked at it and grabbed it before looking in the sky to see where it had come from. He suddenly seemed very happy. Emilia looked up to see what he was looking at and saw a little orange and yellow speck flying through the air.

"The Avatar."

"Oh come on, we were having such a nice moment," Emilia protested. Zuko turned around and planted a kiss on her lips.

"We can have a lot more once I've captured the Avatar," Zuko said before leading her back to ostrich horse and riding in the direction Aang was going. Emilia let out a sigh of frustration.

Aang stopped in a rundown town, possibly waiting for something. Emilia told Zuko Azula was there but that made him want to go even more. Was there nothing that could stop this guy? He was so determined she could probably get naked and he'd say something stupid like 'as soon as I get the Avatar.' That was all he cared about. Either way, the two of them stuck between the broken down buildings in search for where the Avatar was. Aang and Azula were already at a standoff and Zuko hadn't noticed yet. A piece of her hoped that he would just change his mind and turn around but that would never happen. Zuko was too proud to give up while he had a sliver of a chance.

"Wait here," Zuko commanded as they approached where Azula and Aang were facing off.

"But Zuko-"

"Wait. Here," Emilia grumbled and got off the ostrich horse. She leaned on a broken building and watched as Zuko approached them better. Emilia closed her eyes and shook her head as he sent the ostrich horse into a full out sprint.

"Do you really want to fight me?" Azula questioned. Zuko took this chance to jump off his ride and confront his sister.

"Yes, I really do," he said. Emilia took this chance to get closer, knowing that he secretly wanted her to help him. Since she really wasn't a fighter that was all she could do without getting in the way.

"Zuko," Aang gasped.

"I was wondering when you'd show up, Zuzu," Azula taunted.

"Again with the Zuzu crap?" Emilia muttered, leaning on yet another post. Aang snickered a little making Emilia look at him.

"Zuzu?" He question with another snicker. Emilia snickered a little too; it was kind of cute.

"Back off Azula," Zuko said as he got into a fighting stance. "He's mine." Azula glanced at Emilia and then back at her brother before assuming a fighting stance herself.

"I'm not going anywhere," she said in a mocking tone. It was quiet for a long time; no one made any kind of move. Emilia was looking back and forth between the three benders in front of her. Emilia was getting worried. She wanted to shout out to Zuko to be careful but she was afraid Azula would try and use her to get to Zuko because she was a freakin bitch like that. So she just said nothing. That was the worst mistake she ever made because Azula shot a blast of blue fire at Zuko and sent him flying into a wall. Aang Ran away and Emilia ran to Zuko's side while Azula was chasing the air bender.

"You could of told me,"

"Sorry, didn't see that part," Emilia apologized. "Now go kick some ass." Zuko got to his feet and rejoined the fight, shooting blast after blast of fire at his sister and Aang. Emilia was shouting out commands for him to fallow but everything was moving a little too fast and she felt like she was hurting more than she was helping.

Azula and Zuko were trying to fight too different battles so it made it easier for Aang to escape. He ran into a building and the two fire benders ran after him. Emilia tried to warn Zuko not to go into the building but he ended up on his face again. Emilia tried to warn him that he was going to get hit with more fire but Azula beat her to it and knocked him on the ground. Emilia rushed to his side again and cupped his face to see if he was okay.

"Get up, hot head," Emilia commanded. He groaned a little but didn't get up; he must have hit his head pretty hard. It was around this time that Aang's friends showed up. Emilia pointed them in the direction where Aang was and told them to hurry. Emilia kept trying to get Zuko to wake up while the others cornered Azula. There was a shadow casting over the two and Emilia looked up to see something she had missed dearly.

"Iroh," Emilia greeted happily. It was about this time that Zuko came too and looked up so see his uncle too.

"Uncle?"

"Get up," he instructed, helping his nephew off the ground. Iroh looked at Emilia and she nodded knowing what he wanted her to do.

"This way, we can cut her off when she runs," Emilia said, leading them around the buildings. She was right and Azula did try to run but Iroh stopped her. Everyone stood in a half circle and cornered the princess like an animal.

"Look at this, enemies and traitors all working together," Azula sneered, looking at all of them. "I'm done; I know when I'm beaten. You got me, a princess surrenders with honor." No one made a move and Emilia tried to remember what happened next but she was coming up with nothing. She knew it was bad but she couldn't remember what it was. The Azula smirked.

"Uncle, look out!" but it was too late. Azula had shot a blast of her blue fire directly at his chest sending him flying backwards. Everyone looked in horror. Emilia rushed to his side while everyone shot her with one big blast. Emilia picked his head up slightly and grabbed his hand, tears beginning to form in her eyes. How could she forget that this was going to happen? Zuko looked beat up too as he knelt down at his uncle's side.

"Get away from us!" he shouted as everyone came closer.

"Zuko, I can help," Katara told him.

"Leave!" He demanded, shooting a stream of fire at them to emphasize his point. Everyone ran away after that. It was quiet for a moment aside from the sound of the town burning around them.

"We have to get him somewhere safe so we can put medicine on him," Emilia told Zuko. He did nothing, he just sat there and stared at his uncle. Great, he was picking now to throw a fit. This is what made something in Emilia snap. She reared her hand back and slapped the prince hard across the face. He looked at her with utter shock like he had no idea what had just happened.

"Now is not the time to be a whinny little bitch," Emilia scolded. "I'm upset too but we need to take care of him. Now are you going to help me or just sit there and mope?" Zuko didn't say a word as he helped Emilia get Iroh onto the ostrich horse and somewhere safe.


	8. An Escape Route

**Auther's Note:** I'm so so soooo sorry I havent been ubdating regularly. I've had a lot going on with school and the million kinds of essays and projects ive been assigned but since things are slowing down for the end of the semester i think I'll be able to post a bit more often :)

* * *

><p>There was an abandoned house not too far away so Zuko decided this would be the best place to dress Iroh's wounds and let him heal. Zuko didn't leave his side and didn't really sleep the entire time he was out. It was admirable really. Even though he would never admit it he did miss his uncle while they were apart. Emilia had missed him to and she really hadn't left his side either aside from making something to eat. It had been two days since the event with Azula before Iroh finally showed signs of waking up.<p>

"Zuko, he's waking up," Emilia told him as he had gotten up to stretch his legs. He was back at his uncle's side in an instant.

"Uncle, you were unconscious," Zuko told him as he got up. "Azula did this to you; it was a surprise attack." Iroh tried to sit up but winced in pain and lay back down a little.

"Somehow that's not so surprising," Iroh said as he tried to sit up again. He groaned in pain but managed to sit himself up against the wall. Zuko had been trying to make him some tea and poured his uncle a cup so he could drink it.

"I hope I made it the way you like it," He said. Iroh took a sip but his face crinkled into an ugly shape making Emilia giggle a little.

"Mmm, good," Iroh said taking another drink and shuddering at the obvious bad taste before handing it back to his nephew. "That was very . . . bracing." Zuko poured him another glass which Iroh presumed to spill out the window while his nephew wasn't looking.

"So uncle, I've been thinking," Zuko said as he poured himself a cup of tea. "It's only a matter of time before I run into Azula again. I'm going to need to know more advanced fire bending if I'm going to stand a chance against her. I know what you're going to say; she's my sister and I should be trying to get along with her-"

"No," Iroh interrupted. "She's crazy and she needs to go down." Zuko and Emilia were shocked for a moment but it wore off. He had a point, she was insane. Iroh tried to stand up but he looked like he was in a lot of pain so Emilia tried to help him a little.

"It's time to resume your training," Iroh told him.

"Uncle, you can barely stand you shouldn't be training anyone," Emilia protested, shooting a sympathetic look at Zuko. She knew how badly Zuko would need to learn more advanced fire bending but it would be bad for Iroh to be moving around so much with such a bad injury.

"I'll be fine, my little fortune teller," Iroh assured before leading Zuko out of the hut.

Emilia sat a safe distance away from the two while they practiced their lightning bending. She knew it was dangerous and if she stayed too close she would end up getting hurt if she got to close to either of the-that and she wanted to stay back and drink some of Iroh's tea. She watched in awe as Iroh moved the lightning with his fingers and shot it off the side of the cliff. Zuko made the same motions as his uncle but when he tried to shoot some lightning off the side of the cliff it blew up in his face. Zuko tried it over and over again but every time he tired it kept blowing up.

"Why can't I do it?" Zuko asked looking back at his uncle. "Instead of lightning it keeps exploding in my face; like everything always does."

"I was afraid this might happen," Iroh said getting up and approaching his nephew. "You will not be able to master lightning until you have dealt with the turmoil inside you."

"What turmoil?" Zuko barked out.

"Zuko," Iroh said calmly. "You must let go of your feelings of shame if you want your anger to go away."

"But I don't feel any shame at all," Zuko protested. "I'm as proud as ever. Emilia rolled her eyes and walked up to Iroh and looked at Zuko.

"Prince Zuko, pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source," Iroh told him. "Humility is the only antidote to shame."

"Well my life's been nothing but humbling lately," Zuko said solemnly.

"I have another idea," Iroh said after a moment of silence. "I will teach you a fire bending move that even Azula doesn't know; because I made it up myself." Zuko looked at his uncle and smiled. Emilia smiled at him and walked up to him as Iroh turned to walk away. She crossed her arms and looked up at him with a coy smile.

"I think you're going to like this one," She said before grabbing his hand and pulling him towards Iroh.

The lesson began with Iroh giving his nephew a crash course in element 101. Zuko seemed to soak up the information like a small child would. It was cute how he just sat there and listened to his uncle. After the speech Iroh began showing his nephew some simple water bending moves. It must have felt awkward for him since water was his polar opposite. Iroh then showed him how to direct lightning through your body; in one arm and out the other. Zuko fallowed the motions his uncle showed him for about ten or fifteen minutes before his uncle stopped him.

"Excellent," Iroh told him. "You've got it." Emilia was about to run up to him and give him the biggest hug of his life when he bowed and spoke.

"Great, I'm ready to try with real lightning," He stated proudly. Iroh and Emilia both looked at him like he was a loon.

"What are you, crazy?" Iroh questioned. "Lightning is very dangerous."

"I thought that was the point; you teaching me how to protect myself from it," Iroh looked rather angry and Emilia just shook her head and crossed her arms.

"Yea, but I'm not going to shoot lightning at you," Iroh snapped. "If you're lucky you will never have to use this technique at all."

"Seriously Zuko, you could fry your insides if you aren't careful," Emilia told him to emphasize Iroh's point.

"Well if you won't help me I'll find my own lightning," Zuko said before storming off on the ostrich horse. Iroh looked hurt by his nephew's rebelliousness. Emilia approached him and wrapped him in a gentle embrace.

"I'll fallow after him," Emilia said. "There are only a few places he could have gone out here."

"Be careful, my nephew is unpredictable when he's got his mind set to something,"

Emilia spent the rest of the evening looking for Zuko. What was worse it had started raining which meant lightning was probably going to be striking everywhere. Luckily Zuko wasn't good at hiding and had left the ostrich horse at the bottom of a pillar. It was only now that Emilia's fear of heights and thunder storms decided they were going to kick in. She had to help Zuko though so she had to get over her fears. The pillar was steep and the closer she got to the top the more violent the winds were. It finally started to level off and she could just barely hear Zuko yelling over the wind and rain.

"You've always thrown everything you could at me," He shouted at the sky. "Well I can take it and now I can give it back!" the wind picked up a little as Emilia got to the stop and stood a few feet behind Zuko.

"Go on, strike me!" he shouted again. "You've never held back before!" Lightning began striking everywhere except where Zuko was standing. He shouted one last time before falling to his knees in defeat. Emilia decided this would be the best time to try and get him off the ridge before he got hurt. He seemed startled when she first touched him but calmed down when he was it was her. Even though it was raining Emilia could still see the tears coming out of his eyes. In an instant Emilia had him wrapped in her arms, holding him tightly with no signs of letting go. Zuko was still for a moment before wrapping his arms tightly around her too. Neither said anything, they just sat there holding one another. Zuko cried a little more and Emilia did her best to calm him and silence his cries.

"I'm not going anywhere, sweetie," Emilia said softly. Zuko nodded his head to let her know he heard her and tightened his grip. There really was a lot more to Zuko then met the eye. He may act all tough but in reality he was still just a kid like she was. All he wanted was his father's acceptance; was that really so wrong? No, no it wasn't.

The two stayed on the ridge until the rain started to die down then they returned back to camp. They were both soaking wet but neither really cared. Iroh was sleeping so the two teens decided to follow suit. They both assumed their spots in opposite corners of the hut and lay down to go to bed. It had only been a few minutes before Emilia heard someone move and lay down next to her. She opened her eyes and saw Zuko lying on his side next to her. His amber eyes looked at her with so much emotion. Emilia smiled and ran her fingers over his check before reaching over to peck him on the lips. He kissed her back and held her hands tightly in his.

"What does the future tell you now?" Zuko asked, looking at their hands and playing with her fingers. Emilia smiled softly and scooted over so she could snuggle up to her prince.

"I don't know," She told him, looking up to meet his intense gaze. "There are some things I'm not allowed to know." They shared one last kiss before falling asleep in each other's arms.

It was time to move the next morning so everyone packed up their things and got on the ostrich horse. Emilia insisted on walking so there would be enough room for Iroh without him getting squished. The beginning of the day was pretty good, nothing really bothered them and everyone seemed rather happy, including Zuko. As the day went on Iroh's wounds must have started hurting though. He shouldn't really be doing any moving and riding on the ostrich horse was probably jolting him around too much. It started out with him just wincing and holding onto his arm and chest but as the day went on his winces turned into moans and groans.

"Maybe we should make camp," Zuko suggested.

"No please, don't stop just for me," Iroh protested. Then he groaned dramatically making Zuko stop the ostrich horse and get off it. Iroh got off it too and sat on a rock, but he was still holding his arm in pain. Emilia got into her bag and pulled out some medicine so she could apply it to his wounds. Zuko suddenly took a fighting stance making Emilia and Iroh look in the direction her was facing.

"Oh, what now?" Iroh questioned his voice exhausted and a little irritated. In an instant they were surrounded by Fire Nation soldiers riding lizard horses.

"Colonel Mun Ke, what a pleased surprise," Iroh greeted. Zuko looked angry and didn't back down from his fighting stance.

"If you're surprised we're here then the Dragon of the West has lost a few steps," the colonel said taking a fighting stance on his rough rhino while the rest of his gang took out weapons and readied to fight too. Emilia was getting really sick of all these damn fights; if she knew she would have to know the ins and outs of all of them she would have crammed the night before her kitchen went up in flames.

"You know these guys?" Zuko questioned his uncle.

"Sure," Iroh said. "Colonel Mun Ke and the rough rhinos are legendary. Each one is a different kind of weapon specialist. They are also a very capable singing group." Emilia snickered at that, earning a dirty look from the guy with the spear.

"We're not here to give a concert," Mun Ke said in a frustrated tone. "We're here to apprehend fugitives."

"Would you like some tea first?" Iroh asked, his voice seeming a little cockier than it should have been. "I'd love some. How about you, Katchi? I make you as a Jasmine man; am I right?"

"Enough stalling," Mun Ke had obviously had enough. "Round 'em up!"

"Iroh, behind you!" Emilia shouted, trying to get behind Zuko for protection. She reminder herself that she would have to learn how to fight soon. Iroh was quick and kicked the chain away and made it whined around one of the rough rhino's legs. He dodged some flaming arrow's with ease as well then hit the rough rhino on its behind sending it running in the opposite direction, taking the guys with the chain with it.

The man with the flaming arrows shot one at Zuko, which he easily broke with his hand and shot a blast of fire right back at him, making a clean hole in the man's bow. Now it was Mun Ke's turn to cause a little trouble. He shot some blasts of fire at the trio which Iroh easily deflected while Zuko jumped on the back of his rhino and round house kicked him off it. In that time Iroh grabbed Emilia and the ostrich horse making her mount it before him. Zuko jumped in it as they rode by, but the guy in armor was still after them. He shot a fire bomb at them making Emilia scream. She was happy to see that all of them made it out okay.

"It's nice to see old friends," Iroh said sarcastically.

"Too bad you don't have any old friends who don't want to attack you," Zuko stated.

"Friends that don't want to attack me . . ." Iroh said mechanically.

"Let's just get the hell out of here before they catch up!" Emilia pleaded, holding onto Iroh for dear life.

They traveled for a few more hours until they were out of the desert forest they were previously in and into the real desert. Emilia didn't know how the two fire benders could stand it when they were hot as it was. It was all she could do to not take off her over shirt and just walk around with the bandages wrapped around her chest as a top. They soon came to a little town though which meant there was a little bit of shade for them to hide in. Iroh didn't seem to mind the people in the bar and Emilia was just happy to be out of the way of the sun but Zuko seemed a little irritated.

"No one here's gonna help us," Zuko said. "These people just look like filthy wanderers."

"So do we," Iroh said with a smile, then his attention turned to something in the back of the bar. "Ah, this looks interesting. I think I found our friend." In the back of the bar there was a little old man sitting at a Pi Sho table.

"You brought us here to gamble on Pi Sho?" Zuko questioned.

"I don't think this is a gamble," Iroh said like the wise man he was before heading to the back where the table was. Zuko and Emilia reluctantly fallowed.

"May I have this game?" Iroh asked the man.

"The guest has the first move," the old man said as Iroh sat himself down. Iroh took a tile with a flower on it and placed it in the middle of the table.

"I see you favor the white lotus gambit," the old man observed. "Not many still cling to the ancient ways."

"Those who do can always find a friend," Iroh responded.

"Then let us play," the old man said as he too placed a tile on the table. Zuko looked at Emilia with an annoyed expression but she just winked and held her finger to her lips for him to stay quiet. Zuko sat down next to Emilia as the two old men placed tile after tile on the table until they had formed the shape of a giant lotus flower.

"Welcome, brother," the old man said when they had finished, "The while lotus opens wide to those who know its secrets."

"What are you old gas bags talking about?" Zuko questioned earning a nice elbow to the side from Emilia.

"I always tried to tell you that Pi Sho is more than just a game," Iroh told his nephew.

"I'm not waiting all night for these geezers to finish yapping," a voice boomed from the corner of the bar. "It's over, you three fugitives are coming with me." The tree turned around to see a couple of people in Earth Kingdom clothes approaching them. The old man stood and went to face them.

"I knew it," He said pointing an accusatory finger at them. "You three are wanted criminals with a huge bounty on your heads."

"I thought you said he would help," Zuko snapped.

"Shut your mouth, hot head," Emilia said, just as nervous as Zuko was.

"He is, just watch," Iroh said placing a calming hand on the two teen's shoulders.

"You think you're going to capture them and collect all that gold?" the word gold was enough to spark the interest of everyone in the room. It was a full on brawl after that. This was the perfect opportunity to escape so the old man led the three fugitives out of the bar and to a whole different set of buildings. He snuck them in then locked the door tightly after them.

"It is an honor to welcome such a high ranking member of the white lotus," the old man said to Iroh. "Being a grand master you must know so many secrets."

"Now that you played Pi Sho are you going to do some flower arranging or is someone in this club gonna offer some real help?" Zuko asked a little irritated, earning another elbow to the side. The old man led them to a door at the other end of the room where they stopped.

"You must forgive my nephew; he is not an initiate and has little appreciation for the cryptic arts," Iroh apologized for Zuko. The old man knocked on the door and a little slider opened to reveal a man on the other side.

"Who knocks at the gaurded gate?" the man on the other side of the door asked.

"One who has eaten the fruit and tasted its mysteries," Iroh responded. That must have been the password because the man opened the door. Zuko and Emilia went to follow after but the door shut before they could get in.

"I'm afraid it's members only," Iroh said through the slider. "Wait out here." Zuko grumbled a little but took a seat on the floor next to some flowers. Emilia sat next to him and started picking the sand out of her nails. It was quiet between the two, no one really said anything. Zuko looked at Emilia and saw that her shirt was slipping off her shoulder a little bit. He quickly turned his head away and tried not to say anything. Emilia looked at him and saw the pale pink tinge on his cheeks. She wondered what it was until she saw her exposed shoulder. She smirked a little before removing it completely so the only thing covering her up was some bandages wrapped around her chest.

"Is that really necessary?" Zuko asked angrily.

"Yes, yes it is," Emilia said coyly. "I'm hot and it's not like my girls are hanging out or anything like that."

"That's not the point," Zuko grumbled.

"Then what is, Hot Head?" Emilia asked, crossing her arms in a way that made her breasts perk up a little.

"Don't play with fire if you don't want to get burned," Zuko said, his tone warning. Emilia smirked then got on her hands and knees; crawling a little to get over to him and pressed her chest against his arm.

"I think I can take the heat," The next thing Emilia knew Zuko had her pinned to the ground. She blushed a vibrant shade of red and looked up at him. Very slowly Zuko leaned his head down and pecked the corner of her lips. He did the same to her cheek, forehead, and then her nose. He was very careful to miss her lips and he continued to kiss his way around her face.

Having enough Emilia went to push Zuko away but he grabbed her hands and held them over her head. She whimpered in protest and tried to get him off her. She started kicking her legs but he held them down with his own and when she tried to squirm out of his grasp he put both of her wrists into one of his hands and used the other to hold her hips down. Zuko looked down at her, examining her. Her skin was very pale but it was also very soft. To tease her some more he dipped his head down and let his lips hover over hers for what felt like forever. His hot breath made Emilia's lips tingle and twitch. She whimpered again and bit her lip; the movement making them brush against Zuko's. Just as Emilia was about to give in and lift her head up to kiss him he got off her and sat back in his spot from before. Emilia sat up too, her face flushed and her heart racing. Zuko looked at her and smirked making her heart skip a beat and her stomach do summer saults.

"You're an asshole," Emilia told him.

"And you're a temptress, but you don't see me complaining," Zuko said looking at some plants. Emilia glared at him before assuming her spot next to him. She folded her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Zuko looked at her and picked the corner of his lips up in a half smile. Before leaning over and giving her a peck on the cheek and wrapping and arm around her shoulder.

"Get some sleep; today's been a tiring day,"

It was the next morning before Iroh emerged from the back room. The sound of the door opening startled Zuko and made him jump up and take a fighting stance.

"What's going on?" Zuko asked, relaxing when he saw his uncle. "Is the club meeting over?" Emilia groggily rubbed her eyes and stood up next to Zuko, earning a strange but brief look from Iroh. Her shit was still off so she was pretty much topless. She quickly picked it up off the floor and put it back on.

"Everything is taken care of," Iroh told them. "We're heading to Ba Sing Se."

"Ba Sing Se?" Zuko questioned. "Why would we go to the Earth Kingdom capitol?"

"The city is filled with refugees," the old man said. "No one will notice three more."

"We can hide in plain sight there," Iroh added. "And it's the safest place in the world from the Fire Nation. Even I couldn't break through to the city."

"It's a great idea; I've always wanted to see the city," Emilia said happily, looking up to Zuko. Before he could say anything a by walked in through the front door.

"I've got the passports for our guests but there are two men out on the street looking for them," the boy said. Everyone crowded around the slider hold on the door and saw the guys from before waving their poster around.

"We'll never be able to sneak around," Emilia said.

"There has to be some way," Zuko replied. As if answering their prayers the man from the night before came into the room with a carrier with two pots on it.

"There's only two, so one of you will have to share," he said as him and the younger boy dumped the plants out and got the pots ready for travel.

"Emilia and I will share, we're both small enough to fit in one," Zuko suggested. Emilia blushed a little but shook it off at they got into the pot. She climbed in after Zuko and was nestled tightly against his chest and the side of the pot. She got nervous as they started moving and grabbed onto Zuko. He smirked in the darkness and wrapped his arms around her protectively. Emilia looked down at him, hoping he couldn't see her blush in the darkness. As Zuko adjusted himself slightly Emilia felt something brush against her leg making her smirk. She bent her head down so it was an inch from his ear, doing her best to press her chest against his.

"Is that a rock in your pants or are you just happy to see me?" She questioned seductively. He would have pushed her off if it hadn't been for the situation they were in. Instead he just let out a sigh and wrapped his arms more securely around her.

"Maybe if you're good I'll show you when we get out of here," He said, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

"I can't wait."


	9. It's a Long Way to Ba Sing Se

**Author's Note: Hey guys sorry I havent posted in a while. I've been rather busy witht he holidays, then finals, and it's been really hard to write some chapters. I posted two chapters this time to hoefully get us caught up. **

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><p>It didn't take that long to get out of the desert but it took even longer to find where this secret ferry system was supposed to be. The trio had been walking for what felt like ages before they met up with some other refugees who were on their way to the same place. It was easier to find their way once the group knew where they were going. It took a day to get from where they were to the ferry. The woman at the desk inspected their passports very carefully and Emilia was afraid she wouldn't accept them. Thankfully the woman slapped an "ok" stamp on them and sent them on their way. Getting on the boat took forever too; it was sunset before it even took off for the day. The trio was standing at the edge of the boat watching the water as the boat went through it.<p>

"Would have thought after all these years I'd be returning to the scene of my greatest military disgrace as a tourist," Iroh said, becoming very chipper as he finished his sentence. He pulled out a funny hat and placed it on his head, earning a laugh from Emilia.

"Look around," Zuko said, in his usual grumpy mood. "We're not tourists; we're refugees."

"Better than being hunted like animals and sleeping on rocks," Emilia said as Zuko took a sip of the "food" they were given. He quickly spit it out and gagged a little.

"I'm sick of eating rotten food, and sleeping in the dirt," he added to his "List of Things That Piss Zuko Off." "I'm tired of living like this."

"Aren't we all," a smooth voice said making the trio turn around and see where it came from. "My name's Jet and these are my freedom fighters; Smellerbe and Long Shot."

"Hey," said the shorter one while the other just nodded-he must have been mute.

"Hello," Zuko said simply before turning back around.

"Here's the deal," Jet began. "I hear the captain's eating like a king while us refugees have to feed off his scraps. Doesn't seem fair, does it?"

"What kind of king is he eating like?" Iroh asked.

"The fat, happy kind," Jet replied. "You wanna help us liberate some food?" Zuko looked at his bowl of slop for a moment before tossing it over board and turning around to face Jet.

"I'm in."

Emilia wanted to help to, but Zuko insisted she stay with Iroh so she wouldn't get caught and get into trouble. When she protested all Zuko had to do was plant a kiss on her lips and she shut up. She was a little peeved at him for doing that but it was overpowered by her worry for him. Her worries were diminished when he came back with the others; sacks of food in hand. He and Jet passed out the food then he took his place next to Emilia.

"So, Smellerbe," Iroh began. "That's an unusual name for a young man."

"Maybe it's because I'm not a man; I'm a girl," Smellerbe corrected then got up to talk away.

"Oh I see now," Iroh shouted after her. "It's a beautiful name for a lovely girl!" Long Shot got up to fallow her and must have said something to cheer her up because they came back and sat down with the group. Iroh and Zuko had started eating when Jet showed up and sat down across from them.

"From what I hear people eat like this every day in Ba Sing Se," he told them. "I can't wait to set my eyes on that wall."

"It is a magnificent sight," Iroh stated.

"So you've been there before?"

"Once, when I was a different man," Iroh sounded disappointed in himself when he said it.

"I've done some things in my past I'm not proud of," Jet explained. "But that's why I'm going to Ba Sing Se; for a new beginning, a second chance."

"That's very noble of you," Iroh said. "I believe people can change their lives if they want to. I believe in seconds chances." Iroh looked at Zuko as he finished his sentence and Zuko looked back at him.

The next morning Emilia woke up and Zuko as gone. She knew she really shouldn't worry but since they were getting close to Ba Sing Se she figured she might as well look for him. She had looked just about everywhere and was headed back to where Iroh was to ask if he'd seen him when Jet stopped her. She gave him a look and tried to walk past him but he stopped her.

"Move," she commanded. Jet just smirked and backed her into wall then blocked her in by putting his hands on either side of her head.

"Oh come on, I saw you eyeing me all night," he said seductively.

"I was only looking at you because I know you're a damn phony, now get off me," Emilia spat. Jet gave her one last dirty look before kissing her. Emilia screamed into his mouth and kneed him in the groin before running back to Iroh. She thanked the Gods Zuko was there too so she didn't have to go looking some more. She instantly threw herself into his arms and held onto him tightly. Zuko looked at her for a moment then at Iroh who seemed just as confused. He looked back at the blond girl in his arms and wrapped his arms around her too.

"I wasn't gone that long, you didn't have to miss me that much," he told her. She shook her head and bit her lip, contemplating whether or not she should tell him. The boat reached the dock then so she didn't have a chance to before everyone started filing off. The line to check in to the city was incredibly long but they eventually got to the front.

"Mr. Lee, Miss Mulan and Mr. . . Mushy is it?" The woman looking at their passports said.

"Actually, it's pronounced Moo-she," Iroh corrected her.

"You telling me how to do my job?" the woman asked.

"Um, no, no," Iroh said. "But may I say you are like a flower in bloom; your beauty is intoxicating." Zuko made a face and Emilia bumped him with her arm.

"You're pretty easy on the eyes yourself there handsome," the woman said and growled playfully. "Welcome to Ba Sing Se." The woman stamped their passports and handed them back to Iroh. The old man turned and looked at the two teens with a proud look on his face.

"I'm going to forget I saw that," Zuko said as he snatched his passport.

"Lighten up, Hot Head. You and I are worse than that," Emilia said with a chuckle making Zuko growl even more.

The three were sitting on some benches waiting for the trams to come and take them to the city when Jet showed up. Emilia glared at him and scooted closer to Zuko.

"Do, you guys got plans once you're inside the city?" Jet asked casually.

"Get your hot tea here; hottest tea in Ba Sing Se!" Iroh's love for tea took over then and he started waving his arm to get the man's attention.

"Jasmine please," he said. The man then came over and poured him a cup before walking away to the next customer. Iroh took one drink of it then spat it out.

"Coldest tea in Ba Sing Se is more like it," Iroh complained. "What a disgrace."

"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" Jet asked Zuko. He looked at Emilia who shrugged. Zuko let out a heavy sigh and went to fallow him. Emilia knew she should tell Zuko not to trust him but she was still flipping out about him kissing her earlier. She could still taste him in her mouth.

"Want to wash the taste out of your mouth?" Iroh asked, handing her the cup of now heated tea. Emilia gratefully took it and swallowed some of it.

"How did you know?" She asked when she handed the cup back.

"The way you looked at Jet just now," Iroh said. "And you've been playing with your tongue for hours." Zuko returned after that and slapped the cup of tea out of Iroh's hand.

"What are you doing fire bending your tea?" Zuko questioned through gritted teeth. "For a wise old man that was a pretty stupid move."

"I know you're not supposed to cry over spilled tea but it's just so sad," Iroh said looking at the cup on the ground.

"Don't worry, there's plenty more in the city," Emilia assured him. Iroh looked at Emilia and smiled before glancing up at Zuko and back to her. She wondered what he meant at first but then she realized it; he wanted them to talk.

"Say Zuko, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"You're not gonna make me join some dumb gang are you?"

"No, it's just a talk," She led him away from Iroh and to a secluded corner where she was sure no one would bother them. Zuko looked at her a moment trying to read her face. She looked upset about something.

"Jet kissed me," Emilia said bluntly.

"He what?"

"Calm down, don't make a scene okay?" Emilia told him, putting her hands on his chest to try to calm him down. "It happened on the boat while I was looking for you. He cornered me and kissed me, but I kicked him and ran away. I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to happen." Emilia was near tears at this point; she didn't want Zuko to be mad at her. Zuko was angry though, but not at her. He was angry with Jet; he somehow couldn't believe he would do that to her. Emilia looked at the ground, a few tears coming out of her eyes. She felt Zuko wrap her in his arms and hush her cries.

"Next time I find him, I'll kill him," Zuko told her. She looked up at him, her eyes glistening with tears and a few wet marks trailing down her face.

"You aren't mad at me?" she questioned. Zuko smiled softly and place a kiss on her forehead.

"There's no way I could ever be mad at you Emilia," he told her. "Just never leave my side, that's all I ask." Emilia wiped the tears from her eyes and wrapped her arms around Zuko's torso, resting her head on his chest.

"You'll make a great fire lord someday," Emilia told him. "I know because I've seen it. You'll surpass every fire lord before you." Zuko smiled and tightened his grip on her ever so slightly.

They were on the tram ready to go into the city a short time after that. Zuko hadn't let go of Emilia's hand. She was happy about it, she felt like maybe he actually liked her. They sat down in the tram next to a couple with a baby. Iroh looked at it and complimented it. It was very cute; Emilia was tempted to ask if she could hold it. The tram went through the wall and into a track inside. The city was huge and Emilia couldn't help but stare.

"It's beautiful," Emilia breathed.

"Yes very," Iroh said. "So calm and peaceful." Emilia was sitting on her knees facing the window so she could look at it as they went by. Zuko looked up at her but regretted it instantly. The way the sun was hitting her hair made it look like it was shimmering. It brought out her features so nicely and made her look even more beautiful than before.

"Oh Lee, have you ever seen anything more beautiful in your life?" Emilia asked, looking at Zuko. She was smiling this big smile that made her eyes light up even more than they usually did.

"Only one," he said.

After being given a new home everyone got some new clothes to blend in more. They all looked like they were from the Earth Kingdom so hopefully no one would notice them. Zuko was upset about having to live in the lower ring with all the poor people but that was to be expected when dealing with the pouty prince. On the way back to their apartment Iroh had purchased a plant and Zuko didn't seem too happy.

"What, I just want our new apartment to look nice in case someone brings home a lady friend," Iroh said nudging his nephew. "Or if someone else brings home a young man." He looked at Emilia and gave her a little nudge too.

"This city is a prison," Zuko said, ignoring what his uncle said. "I don't want to make a life here."

"Yea, this city is a little bit dead, for lack of a better word," Emilia added.

"Life happens where ever you are whether you make it or not," Iroh replied to their negativity. "Now come on, I got s some new jobs and we start this afternoon." Emilia detested the idea of a job. She hated the one she had back home and now she would have to work again? It was bad enough her most said phrase of the day was "welcome to McDonald's; may I take your order?" but now she had to do something even more degrading, especially since women never got the same treatment in this time period.

Sure enough a little later they were all in a tea show wearing dumb little aprons and bringing needed customers their tea. It was bad enough to have some snobby fat guy complain because his Big Mac isn't big enough but now she had to listen to people complain because their tea was too hot or too cold. It was always something. The day felt like it would drag on forever and people were still filing in when it was getting dark. Thankfully the shop finally closed and the three could go back to their home. Emilia was cooking up some kind of dinner while Iroh made tea.

"Would you like a pot of tea?" Iroh asked.

"We've been working at the tea shop all day," Zuko complained. "I'm sick of tea."

"Sick of tea?" Iroh questioned in shock. "That's like being sick of breathing."

"I'll have some Iroh," Emilia said as she continued to cook. Iroh smiled at her then reached I the drawer but didn't grab anything.

"Have you seen our spark rocks to heat up the water?" Iroh asked, digging through more drawers. Emilia looked over into the drawer and started digging too.

"They were there when I started cooking," She said. "I swear I put them back." Iroh got fed up with looking and just went to the neighbors to barrow theirs.

Work was the same the next day and the day after that. Iroh had been making the tea since what the manager made was horrid. Emilia wasn't a fan of tea but even she loved what Iroh made. People started coming in regularly and some would even some down from the better districts to drink the tea Iroh made.

"This is the best tea in the city," one of the customers said one night. Emilia peeked her head out from the back and smiled at Iroh for doing a good job.

"The secret ingredient is love," he told them. Emilia chuckled to herself and went back to washing dishes. It wasn't until she heard the bang of the door opening that she came out to the front. It was Jet and he didn't look to happy.

"I'm tired of waiting," he said angrily. "These three are fire benders." He pointed an accusatory finger at the three and they just stood there; shocked. Emilia the most because she was the only one who wasn't a fire bender. Jet pulled out his hook swords making everyone in the restaurant scream and run.

"I know they're fire benders, I saw the old man heating his tea," Jet said as if to emphasize his point.

"He works in a tea shop," one of the customers said.

"He's a fire bender, I'm telling you," Jet proclaimed again.

"Drop the weapons young man," One of the guards said. "Nice and slow."

"You'll have to defend yourself," Jet said as if he hadn't even heard the man. "Go on; show everyone what you can do." Emilia was about to jump in front of Iroh to defend him but Zuko beat her to it and grabbed one of the guard's swords.

"I'll give you a show," he said. He kicked a table at Jet but he broke it in half with his hook swords then started swinging at Zuko. He jumped on another table to avoid getting hit but Jet sliced that one in half too. Emilia resisted the urge to tell him where Jet was going to hit but she knew the last thing they needed was to cause even more of a scene. Jet kicked Zuko in the stomach and sent him flying out of the shop and everyone fallowed.

"You must be getting tired of using those swords," Jet taunted while he had Zuko cornered. "Why don't you go ahead and fire bend at me?" This was making Zuko even more annoyed. He pushed Jet back and started swinging his swords at him.

"Please son, you're confused," Iroh shouted at him. "You don't know what you're doing." He looked at Emilia who looked up at him. This was bad and they both knew it. They turned their attention back to the fight.

"I bet you wish they'd help you out with a little fire blast right now," taunted, swinging his hook swords at him. Zuko pinned one of them to the ground with his sword, obviously catching him off guard.

"You're the one who needs help," Zuko told him. He swung his sword at Jet but he leaned back just in time. Emilia prayed no one saw the flame coming out of the end of the blade, but no one probably did.

"You see that?" Jet questioned jumping back onto a well. "The Fire Nation is trying to silence me! It'll never happen." With that he lunged at Zuko again. Emilia was getting really nervous; every time Zuko swung his sword a little bit of flame would come out the end of it. It looked like the blade was reflecting some light but it was only a matter of time before someone noticed there wasn't enough light for it to reflect that much. The crowd was parted when some of the Dia Lee came through.

"Drop your weapons," one of them said.

"Arrest them, they're fire benders," Jet told them.

"This poor boy is confused," Iroh told them. "We're just simple refugees."

"This young man wrecked my tea shop and assaulted my employees," Their boss said.

"It's true sir, we saw everything," one of the men from before said. "This boy attacked the finest tea maker in the city." The Dai Lee came up behind Jet and proceeded to arrest him but he tried to fight back. Big mistake on his part. They bound his hands and drug him back to the cart to take him away.

"You don't understand, they're Fire Nation; you have to believe me," Jet protested as they drug him away.

The streets cleared and everyone went back to what they were doing before Jet came along. The tea shop wasn't open much longer after that so everyone went home. Emilia was sitting in a corner, not wanting to sit on anything. She knew nothing good was going to happen from Jet getting arrested but it's not like she could just go bust him out. Zuko noticed how upset Emilia looked so he knelt down in front of her and grabbed her hand.

"Are you okay?" Emilia shook her head. "You saw something bad, didn't you?" Emilia nodded her head and pulled her legs up to her chest. Zuko felt a little guilty for what had happened. He knew she wasn't too fond of Jet but she didn't like anything resulting in violence. She had told him once that she hated the war and thought it was stupid.

"Come on, let's just go to bed," Zuko told her trying to get her to her feet. She didn't move. Zuko sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He didn't want to waste time trying to get her to stand so he just picked her up and took her to his bed and lay her down on it. She laid on her side facing the wall, her body curled up in a tight ball. Zuko laid next to her and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"No more fighting Zuko," Emilia said softly. "No one else needs to get hurt because of the Fire Nation."


	10. I'm not Jealous

Life in Ba Sing Se wasn't so bad. Working at the tea shop got better over time and it seemed like even Zuko was getting accustomed to working there. He would always sneak a kiss in whenever he went to the back where Emilia worked. Sometime Iroh would catch them but he never really made a scene of it. He was probably glad his nephew was happy even though things really weren't going his way. One day Zuko seemed to be having a very bad day. It had started raining the second they got up and it hadn't stopped all day. Apparently rain and Zuko weren't a good combination. Emilia tried to keep her distance so she didn't do something to make him even more angry but that just seemed to annoy him more.

"Why are you ignoring me?" He asked, cornering her in the back.

"You seem like you're having a bad day so I just wanted to let you have your breathing room," Emilia said slipping away from him. He grumbled a little but returned to his work. He kept a close eye on her though. His bad mood had made him suspicious of things he shouldn't be. Even though she wasn't doing anything differently it looked like she was hitting on the men in the shop. Emilia's outfit didn't help either. Their boss said she had to wear it closed but it always hung open a little because it was so big on her.

The day was long and came to a rather aggressive end. Zuko was getting mad at everything so he left early, leaving Iroh and Emilia to clean up and close the place for the night. Emilia had asked Iroh if she had done anything wrong but he assured her his nephew just got testy when the weather was bad. She tried to let his words sink in but she had this gut feeling he was mad at her. Maybe she shouldn't have avoided him today. She would apologize when they got home but Zuko was nowhere to be found. Emilia tried not to worry about it. She kept telling herself he went off to find a place where he could bend in peace to blow off some steam. She only really got worried when it was getting late and he hadn't come home yet. Iroh was asleep so she decided she'd go searching herself to find him. He didn't know the city that well so where could he have honestly gone?

It had thankfully stopped raining but that didn't help aid in the young girl's search. She had gone just about everywhere she could think he would be and even looked in secluded places he could be bending at but there was still nothing. By this time it was getting hard for Emilia to keep her eyes open let alone keep looking for someone. She decided to just go home and look for him some more tomorrow if he hadn't come back by the morning. He had probably come home while she was out looking for him anyway.

"Hey, you're the girl from the tea shop," A voice said. Emilia turned around to see one of the guys from the previous day. He was relatively big and had some muscles. He also looked like he had a criminal record so Emilia kept on walking the other way.

"I'm trying to talk to you," he said, grabbing her arm and making her turn around. This had woken her up a little. Not she noticed how big he really was.

"Look, I have to get home," Emilia said. "My friends will be missing me."

"I'm sure they'll understand that you wanted to have a little fun," the guy said with a smirk. Before she could do anything to stop him the guy had her pinned to a wall with his lips on hers. She tried to push him away but he took it as her wanting to play rough so he placed his hands under her butt and picked her up a little. She tried to squirm some more but the only thing that accomplished was her swinging her legs up and him grabbing hold of them to wrap around his waist. Emilia closed her eyes tightly knowing that she couldn't fight this freak off. She was about to give up and she felt the guy drop her. She hit the ground with a thump and let out a yelp in pain as the guys turned around.

"Back off, we're busy," the guy said.

"Well then let me make this quick," the other person replied. Emilia's head shot up when she heard Zuko's voice. He looked pretty mad and he showed it when he hit the guy. Zuko didn't look that strong but he knocked the guy out with one hit. He looked at Emilia with a rather annoyed expression before helping her up. He started walking back to their apartment not saying a word.

"Thanks for he-"

"What were you doing out here so late?" Zuko snapped before she could finish.

"I was looking for you," Emilia told him. "It was really late and you weren't home yet." Zuko turned around mid-step and almost knocked Emilia on her feet.

"I got home a few minutes after you left," Zuko told her his voice angry. "Uncle told me you snuck out without a word."

"I thought he was asleep, I didn't want to bother him," Emilia defended. Zuko didn't seem to be buying her.

"What were you really doing?" he questioned, getting up in her face.

"I was looking for you."

"Who was that guy?"

"Some creep who had come by the shop," Emilia was getting a little irritated at this point.

"You sure you weren't meeting your boyfriend and I caught you?" Emilia was shocked at what he said. She let her jaw drop a little and her features went from angry to shock.

"He forced himself on me," Emilia said, not letting her voice get too loud. "If you hadn't been there to save me lord knows what would have happened."

"You would have gotten laid, that's what," Zuko said, turning around to leave.

"What the hell is wrong with you today?" Emilia questioned, a lump forming in her throat. "I understand that the rain makes you angry but you're accusing me of being some tramp? Really Zuko?"

"The way you talk to the men in the shop, the way you can't seem to keep your top on," Zuko listed. "Even the way you smile-you never smile at me like that."

"I'm being a good waitress," Emilia said. "If you're nice to them they give you tips-something we could use right now."

"Well here's a 'tip' for you," Zuko said, turning around and clenching the front of her shirt in his hands. "Next time you decide you want to pretend to care about me, don't. Maybe while you're at it you can look for a new place to live because I don't want you anywhere near me." Zuko pushed her a little when he let go of her. He turned to walk away leaving Emilia alone in the street. She took a step after him but decided against it. She didn't know why but she felt like this was her fault. She wrapped her singed top around her chest and started walking anyway.

Emilia sat in the storage room at the tea shop, he legs pulled up to her chest. She hadn't gone home the night before; she couldn't. She just went to the tea shop and slept on the floor of the storage room. She heard the manager come in and prayed he wouldn't see her back there but he didn't. He just went to the kitchen and put some pots on the stove so the water could start boiling before the others got there. Emilia wasn't really too concerned about Iroh, she was more worried about what Zuko would do to her. She knew he was still mad and her presence would probably make him even more angry. The thought made her cringe.

"Well where could she have gone? There's not a lot of places she could go without getting lost," Iroh's voice said. He seemed so worried. Emilia felt a pang of guilt in her stomach as she got up and exited the storage room. She looked up at the two with a tired look on her face.

"Oh thank goodness," Iroh said as he came up to her and hugged her. Emilia weakly hugged back and tried not to look at Zuko.

"Where were you, we've been looking for you all morning," Iroh still sounded so worried.

"I slept here last night," Emilia said honestly. "He told me not to come home." She pointed and accusatory finger at Zuko only to earn a nasty look from him. Iroh looked at him angrily for a moment too before turning back to Emilia.

"My little fortune teller, do not let him boss you around like that," he told her. "Tonight you're coming home and sleeping in a bed."

"Okay Uncle," Emilia said with a small smile.

Emilia stayed in the back so she could avoid Zuko the best she could but Iroh told her to work the front since she was exhausted and it didn't take a lot of work. She couldn't help but notice a girl in the back of the shop. She had been a regular at the shop for the last week or so. She came in every day around the same time and ordered the same thing. Emilia thought nothing of it but the pissy prince obviously had an issue-like he did with fucking everything.

"Uncle, we have a problem," Zuko muttered as he approached the back. "One of the customers is on to us. Don't look now but there's a girl at the corner table; She knows we're Fire Nation." Iroh looked and quirked an eyebrow. "Didn't I say don't look?"

"You're right Zuko, I've seen that girl in here quite a lot," Iroh replied. "Seems to me she has quite a little crush on you." Emilia nearly broke the glass that was in her hand.

"What?" Zuko exclaimed.

"Thank you for the tea," The girl said as she paid for her drink. "What's your name?"

"My name's Lee," he introduced. "Me and my uncle and . . . our friend just moved here." Emilia growled under her breath at how he introduced her.

"Hi Lee, my name's Jin," the girl said. "Thank you for the tea and well, I was wondering if you'd like to go out sometime." This time Emilia really did break the glass. It cut into her hand and made it bleed a little but she ignored it; she wanted to know how this was going to play out.

"He'd love to," Iroh answered for him.

"Great, I'll meet you in front of the shop at sundown," Jin said before leaving the shop. Emilia growled in the back of her throat and excused herself to the back to clean her hand off. Iroh fallowed her and left Zuko to tend to the front. The water burned at the cuts like fire but Emilia didn't care. At this point she just wanted something to stop her from crying.

"Emi, are you alright?" Iroh's calm voice asked from behind her.

"No, I'm not," Emilia said through gritted teeth. Iroh stood next to her and grabbed her hand to clean it properly.

"Why did you accept for him?" Emilia asked, the hurt imminent in her voice.

"I wanted him to see your reaction," Iroh explained. "I feel like this is a great opportunity for him to realize how he truly feels about you." Emilia scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"He doesn't feel anything for me," Emilia said. "I'm just his precious little fortune teller."

Zuko left the house a little before sundown and Iroh had fallowed to secretly see him off. Emilia didn't want to so she stayed home and wrapped her hand up. She wondered what her mom would tell her if she saw the way she was acting over some boy. She'd probably tell her to stop worrying about boys and do her homework. She laughed at the thought. It was getting late and Emilia was tired from the lack of sleep the night before so she laid down on her bed and fell asleep. She was awoken sometime later by a very loud bang. She grumbled and opened her eyes to look up at the pissy prince. He looked at her for a moment, his features seeming rather calm at the moment.

"What happened to your hand?" He asked. Emilia looked at it, wondering how he could see it in the dark but she had a big white bandage on it to prevent infection.

"Piss off," Emilia said simply before rolling over and attempting to go back to sleep. She heard motion behind her and rolled over on her back to see Zuko sitting next to her.

"What happened?" he asked again.

"I crushed a cup at work today," Emilia said simply. "Maybe if you hadn't been staring at Jin you would have noticed. But then again why would you even bother looking at a tramp like me? You probably don't even want me in your damn house, do you?" Emilia didn't wait for him to answer before she rolled over and put a pillow over her head. She bit her lip in an attempt not to cry. She was finally coming to terms with all of this not being a dream and that it was really happening to her. Dreams shouldn't hurt this much.

Work was okay the next day, but it could have been better. Jin was at her corner table like she always was and she would flirt with Zuko every chance she got. This made Emilia even more angry because he would just flirt back like she wasn't even watching. It was like her first break up all over again. Why are guys such assholes? She tried not to worry about it though, it was his life and he could do whatever he wanted with it. Maybe she should start looking for another guy instead of moping around like she was. She wasn't so good at the moving on part of a relationship though. Hell, that wasn't really even a relationship. Zuko was just some stuck up prince and was throwing a fit because he wasn't getting his way. It was all she could do to now punch him in the stomach.

"Mulan can you bring some more cups from the back?" Iroh's voice called. Emilia gave him a nod and got some more cups. She tried to calm herself down while she as back there and thought she did a pretty good job. She managed a smile that wasn't fake for the first time in the past two days and went into the main room. Big mistake. Just as she entered Jin was leaving and she planted a kiss on Zuko's cheek. What made her even angrier was it looked like she went out of her way to kiss the scarred one. It was like she sought pity on him for what had happened to him. Emilia almost dropped the cups but Iroh grabbed them in time so they didn't fall.

Emilia said nothing to the prince the rest of the day and went out of her way to avoid him. He didn't even stop her from kissing him. They probably had a mini make out session when they went on their date. The thought alone was enough to make Emilia cry but she didn't. She wasn't sad or angry or even annoyed. She just felt numb. She tried not to let it show but Iroh could tell something was bothering her.

"You're upset," Iroh said as a statement.

"No," Emilia lied. She was in the middle of making them something to eat; a sad attempt at getting her mind off things.

"I know you better than that Emilia," Iroh told her placing a calm hand on her shoulder. "What's bothering you so much that you refuse to show even the tiniest of emotions?" Emilia looked at Iroh for a second before tears started coming out of her eyes. She didn't want to cry in front of him but she didn't know what else to do. She wanted her mom but she knew that couldn't happen.

"He's such a jerk Uncle," Emilia told him. "It's like everything we went through together meant nothing." He sobs became louder and her whole body quivered as she cried. She collapsed into Iroh's arms and he held tightly to her. He patted her back and hushed her cries until he was sure she was done. He pushed her off of him a little and looked at her tear stained face.

"It's because he cares for you that he acts the way he does," Emilia looked at Iroh as though he had lost his mind. "He doesn't want to get close to anyone because he's afraid he'll get too attached and they'll leave. He feels like it's easier to act like he hates you and keep you away than tell you he cares and keep you close."

"So what do I do?" Emilia asked as she wiped the salty liquid from her face.

"How should I know, my wife and I never acted like this," Iroh said with a smile. Then Emilia laughed. She laughed a genuine laugh. She hadn't laughed like that the last few days; it felt nice.

"Where's Zuko, I know what to do."

Zuko had gone on another date with Jin mostly because he didn't want to be home. The way Emilia looked at work was horrible and he didn't have the courage to face her. He'd come home after she was in bed and try to sneak out before she got up. Avoiding her wasn't the best way to solve these things but right now it seemed like the only way. God, he felt like such an ass.

"Lee, are you listening to me?" Jin asked snapping Zuko out of his trance.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I said we should go to a haiku restaurant," she told him, grabbing his hand as they walked. "I love poetry."

"Oh really, me too," an all too familiar said. Zuko and Jin turned around to see a rather unhappy Emilia.

"Oh, you're Munli, right?" Jin asked as she got closer.

"It's **Mulan**," Emilia corrected her placing her hands on her hips. "And I've got a little poem for you; Roses are red, Violets are blue, he's for me and not for you, so if you try to take my place I'll take my fist and break your face." Jin looked at her a little frightened and tried to hide behind Zuko. He just looked surprised.

"Th-that wasn't a good poem," Jin said.

"No but it's very accurate," Emilia said, pulling Jin's hand away from Zuko's. "Now leave before it comes true." She obviously didn't need to be told twice because she darted off in another direction. People were staring a little but after a quick glare for Emilia they all went on their own way. She started walking back towards home and turned back to see if Zuko was fallowing. He was still standing in the same place he was with the same dumb look on his face.

"Are you coming?" Emilia asked. Zuko snapped out of his daze and ran to catch up with her.

It was after dinner and everyone was getting ready for bed. Emilia told Iroh what she did and he was relatively proud of her. He was more happy that she didn't really do anything to the poor girl and just scared her off. The only sad part was they were probably losing a very good customer. Everyone was supposed to be asleep but Emilia really couldn't. Sure she had scared Jin away but that didn't mean Zuko was going to come back to her. If anything it probably pushed his away even more. She felt like an idiot but what could she do? She would just have to suck it up and deal with him hating her.

Work the next day was slow. It was surprising that so many people weren't there today and Emilia blamed herself. She thought Jin might have said something to the people around here and warned them not to come to the shop. She told Iroh she was sorry dozens for times but he assured her that it was just a slow day and it would pick up soon enough. She still stayed hidden in the back despite Iroh's words. She just seemed to be screwing everything up lately. Zuko hadn't said anything about the day before on the grounds that he didn't really know what he should say. At first he was angry at her for what she did but then he realized he shouldn't really talk. There was nothing going on between him and Jin so in his eyes she had nothing to worry about. He thought back to that night he saw Emilia with that guy. Maybe she was telling the truth and he had forced himself on her.

"I'll close up tonight Uncle," Emilia said as the day came to an end. She was feeling a little better since some more people had showed up towards the end of the day but she still didn't want to go home yet.

"Alright, just don't take too long," Iroh told her before leaving. It really wasn't that hard to clean the place up since she kept it pretty tidy during the day but she was killing time so she didn't have to go home. She only had a problem with being there alone when she heard a noise coming from out front. She was in the back storage room so it was highly unlikely that someone saw she was there. Her mind flashed to thoughts of who it could be. The Dia Li? The guy from the other night? Maybe Jin had an older brother or a dad that didn't take to kindly to Emilia threatening her. She peeked her head out and saw a shadow but they looked like they were looking for something-or someone. She started getting really freaked out when the shadow started walking to the back. Maybe it was just some random burglar and they thought everyone had left. Emilia couldn't fight to save her life so she just hid in the back corner with a broom stick in her hand. If worse came to worse she could hit them over the head and run out.

The guy opened the door to the back room and entered slowly. Maybe it was the guy from the other night and he was looking for her; what if he had been stalking her? They came really close to the corner she was in and she had to put her hand over her heart for fear of them hearing it pounding in her chest. The person went to walk out of the room and Emilia saw it as the perfect chance to make her escape. She hit him on the back of the head with the broom handle making him grunt and fall on the ground. She took this opportunity to run past him but the guy grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

"No, let me go!" Emilia protested.

"I know I'm a jerk but did you have to hit me with a stick?" an all too familiar voice asked. Emilia looked at the person holding onto her and saw that it was none other than the pissy prince himself. Emilia stood in shock for a minute but quickly composed herself and pulled her arm away from him.

"What are you doing here?" Emilia asked him making sure to keep her distance.

"I wanted to talk to you," Zuko said, rubbing the back of his head where he had gotten hit. "I'm sorry about the way I've been acting; I guess I was just jealous."

"Of what? I'm just your precious little fortune teller, right?" Emilia didn't know why she was so angry, in a way this was all part of her plan.

"You're not my precious little fortune teller," Zuko told her. "Well you are, but not in that way. What I mean to say is, ugh never mind."

"No, I want to finish what you were saying," Emilia said, feeling a little cocky. Zuko looked at her and swallowed his nervousness. He grabbed her hands and ran his thumbs over her skin. Emilia looked at him for a moment but he just looked at the ground.

"I really do care about you," he started. "I just didn't like the way people looked at you. I was afraid you'd leave with them one day and never come back. I don't think I could handle that." Emilia felt a lump growing in her throat. In an instant she had pulled her hands out of Zuko's and placed them on the sides of his face so she could kiss him. He seemed shocked for a moment but got over it and held her close and kissed her back. After a few seconds the teens pulled apart. They looked at each other for a moment before coming together again for a few pecks. Neither of them said anything as they left the shop and headed home hand in hand.

"Would you have really punched Jin?" Zuko asked as they approached their home.

"Oh yea," Emilia said. "I'm scary when I get jealous."


	11. A Change of Pace

**A/N: Hello everyone! I finished another chapter that I'm very happy with and I hope you'll like it too. Someone recently asked me why the story is rated M. This is simple, I don't wnat to offend anyone with the "graphic" way I write the more romantic scenes; that and there was a part in the previous chapter where Emilia was about to get raped. I ****don't want to offend anyone with the way i write and I intend on making it a it more graphic and detailed in the future.**

**But for now, enjoy the story :)**

* * *

><p>Life had gotten much better after that. Living in the city didn't seem so bad anymore and the people even seemed to be getting nicer. Serving tea wasn't so bad; at least it wasn't flipping hamburgers or dealing with stupid little kids who didn't want to sit in the high chair. Zuko had seemed to mellow out a little too. He hadn't gotten angry over anything in a while but he did have to stop Emilia from beating up Jin when she came into the shop and started hitting on Zuko. All in all everything seemed to be getting better. Emilia was even starting to like living here as opposed to her home in Reno. She missed her family every day but Iroh was as good a father as hers was if not better and Zuko was always there for her too.<p>

It had been all of two months since they'd first arrived in the city and going to the tea shop every day had become routine. Emilia was currently at the market getting some supplies for the house and the shop. It had become a second home that she was always stuck doing the shopping for. She didn't mind doing it though; the last time she let Iroh go shopping he had forgotten the list and only bought two of the many things they needed. She tried to get Zuko to go with her once so he knew what to do and where everything was when they needed something but he complained the whole time. Emilia decided she was going to do all the shopping from now on. She was on her way back to the shop when something fell on her head. She grabbed it and looked at it, her eyes getting wide. It was a missing poster for Appa. Emilia almost had a heart attack as she ran back to the tea shop. When she arrived she saw Zuko climbing off the top or a building with a piece of paper in his hand.

"You found one," Emilia said a little disappointed. Zuko just looked at her and smiled.

The two walked home in silence after Emilia had dropped off the groceries for the shop. She was racking her brain with ways to try and stop him from going through with what he was going to. It was obvious that he was going to try and find Aang, but it was dangerous for him to. The Dai Li would capture him and do lord knows what. He would be in even more trouble if they found out he was the Fire Lord's son.

"So I was thinking about names for my new tea shop," Iroh said as the duo entered the house. "How about The Jasmine Dragon? It's dramatic, poetic; it has a nice ring to it."

"That's a lovely name Uncle," Emilia said, sitting down at the table with the groceries. Zuko approached too and pulled the flyer out of his shirt.

"The Avatar is here in Ba Sing Se and he's lost his bison," Iroh looked at the flyer as a look of disappointment befell his face. He took the flyer and frowned a bit.

"We have a chance for a new life here," Iroh told his nephew as he went to the window. "If you start stirring up trouble it could ruin all the good things that are happening for us." That probably wasn't what Zuko wanted to hear.

"Good things that are happening for you," He said. "Have you ever thought I was more out of life than a nice apartment and a job serving tea?"

"There's nothing wrong with a life of peace and prosperity," Iroh told his nephew. "I suggest you think about what it is you want from your life and why."

"I want my destiny," Zuko replied.

"What that means is up to you," Iroh told his nephew as he walked away. Emilia watched him as he walked into the balcony and rolled her eyes. She followed him and stood in the threshold of the door as he leaned on the ledge.

"You're fighting a losing battle," Emilia told him. "What do you hope to gain from catching the Avatar?"

"I've told you already," Zuko said in his monotonous voice.

"What if I told you it was your destiny to betray your uncle and throw him in jail? Would you go after it then?"

"I would never do that to him," Zuko said, whipping around to face her.

"And what if I told you your destiny is not to capture the Avatar?" Emilia asked, not letting her voice get too high. Zuko looked at her and leaned in the balcony in front of her.

"I'll get him this time, I know it," Zuko said. Emilia let her head hang and shook her head. He was stubborn as a mule.

"Fine," Emilia said finally. "But don't expect me to be there to pick you up if you fall again." With that Emilia walked back into the house to help pack their things.

It was the late at night and Iroh and Emilia had been packing all day. She was excited they would get to move to the nicer part of the city. Where they were now was nice too but it would be nice to know that the people around them would have a little more respect for one another as opposed to the people here. That guy who tried to rape her popped into Emilia's head again and made her shutter. She tried to keep her mind on anything besides that. She had laid down to bed when she heard a noise coming from the living room. She swallowed her breath thinking it was some kind of burglar so she reached over to wake up Zuko but he wasn't there. She rolled her eyes knowing now that the person in the living room probably wasn't a burglar. She got up and went in to living room and saw someone in black sneak out the window. She rolled he eyes again and went down the stairs into the street. Sure enough she saw a shadow in the alley their apartment faced meaning Zuko was still there. She walked into the alley and saw the 'Blue Spirit' making a dash out of the alley in her direction.

"Out of my way," he said.

"Or what, you'll cut me up with your swords?" Emilia taunted. "Come on, let's just go back to bed." Emilia's grabbed Zuko's hand but he ripped it out of her grasp. She looked back at him with a shocked look and he took the mask off his face.

"I'll be back by morning, I promise," Zuko said brushing a lock of hair out of her face. Emilia grabbed his hand and placed it on her cheek nuzzling it a little. She looked at Zuko and gazed into his amber colored eyes for a moment before turning her head and kissing his palm.

"Even if I tell you you'll fail you'll still go won't you?" Emilia questioned softly. Zuko turned her to face him and placed a soft kiss on her lips before putting the mask back on his face.

"I'll be home in the morning," then he left. Emilia let out a sigh and went back up to the apartment. She knew Zuko was an idiot but he was a proud idiot. He knew exactly what he wanted and was going to whatever he had to to get it. It was one of his major flaws but it was something rather admirable. When she returned back to the apartment Iroh was already up and getting dressed. She wondered if he had been awake the whole time or if her leaving had done it.

"He left not too long ago," Emilia said, startling him a little bit. "If you hurry you can catch him."

"Are you not coming?" Emilia shook her head.

"No, I'll stay here and pack some more. We are still moving you know," Emilia told him. "Besides, what he needs to hear isn't from me this time." Iroh smiled at her and patted her on the back before going out the door. Emilia went to lie back down and sleep for a few more hours before she had to get up but she just couldn't bring herself to fall asleep. Her mind was filled with one too many things at the moment and it was making her head hurts. She decided to heat up some tea and try to calm down. She was confused about what to do at this point. She wanted to talk to her mom; she always knew what to do. She was always there when she needed to talk or vent or something but now she didn't really have any sort of female figure in her life.

After drinking the cup of tea Emilia decided to try to sleep again. She lay down in the bed and curl up with Zuko's pillow hoping it would help her fall asleep. She felt something crinkle in the pillow case and thought it was one of those stupid fliers. She reached in to pull it out and throw it away when she realized it wasn't a flier; it was a letter.

_Emilia,_

_ I know I've been a bit of a jerk in the past and I haven't really given the best impression on myself but just hear me out. I know it's stupid to give you this instead of actually say it to you but if I try to tell you then I'll freeze up and get nervous or angry and I don't want to do that since we've been pretty friendly lately. I really care about you and I don't think of you as just a companion or "my little fortune teller_." _You're my best friend and you mean so much to me, the thought of losing you is something I can't stand to think about. Well I guess what I'm trying to say is, well, when we get back to the Fire Nation I will help you find your family but I hope that you'll stay with me too. What I mean is_

It cut off after that and the paper was crinkled up so he must have given up on the note. Emilia felt like crying and a lump was forming in her throat. She knew she couldn't just sit here and do nothing; she had to go find Zuko too. She locked up the apartment before she left and made her way to Lake Laogai where she knew they would be.

It was getting to be the early hours of the morning and Emilia was sitting against a cliff side waiting for Zuko and Iroh to come back to the surface. The sun was starting to come up when someone started coming out of the hole in the ground enterance. She stood at the lakes edge where the path met the enterance and waited for them. Zuko dropped his mask in the water and began walking in Emilia's direction. His step picked up when he saw her until he was full on running at her with a grin on his face. He wrapped her in a hug and held her tightly.

"Did you miss me?" Emilia asked wrapping her arms around him too. She looked back at Iroh who was giving them a thumbs up and a grin that seemed to say "I'm finally getting grandchildren."

"I did," Zuko said; his voice low. Emilia smiled and kissed him on the cheek before pulling away and taking his hand.

"Let's go home."

The walk home seemed longer than it should and Zuko seemed to be dragging his feet. Emilia just ruled it out as him being tired but something else seemed to be wrong. She squeezed his hand to silently voice her concern and he squeezed back to assure her he was fine. He seemed really exhausted when they got home and Emilia was going to make sure he got to bed right away.

"You did the right thing," Iroh said as they walked in the door. "Letting the Avatar's bison go free."

"I don't feel right," Zuko said, grabbing his head. His eyes looked heavy and he had started leaning on Emilia for support.

"Hey, get a hold of yourself hot head," Emilia said doing her best to support his weight. He was a little too heavy for her because when his legs buckled under him his whole body went down and he took Emilia with him.

"Zuko!" Iroh exclaimed as he ran to his nephew's side.

"What's wrong? Is he gonna be okay?" Emilia asked frantically.

"Just help me get him to bed," Iroh told her. She did as she was told and ran to the kitchen to start looking for some kind of medicine and water.

Zuko had developed a bad fever in the few hours he'd been in the bed. Iroh had taken the liberty of undressing him in an attempt to keep his fever down and had been putting cold cloths on his forehead. Emilia wished she knew how to water bend so she could hold the whole bucket of water on his face to cool him down. He had stirred in his sleep a little making Emilia's face pick up.

"You're burning up," Iroh said to his nephew. "You have an intense fever; this will help cool you down." He put the cold wash cloth on his head and Emilia gently ran her fingers through his hair so his head didn't get too hot. She had thought about cutting it again but decided against it.

"So thirsty . . ." Zuko said trying to sit up. Iroh pushed him back down and brought a bucket of cold water over to him.

"Here's some clean water to drink," Iroh said; spooning some of the water out for him. "Stay under the blankets and sweat this out." Iroh lifted Zuko's head to give him some water but he took the ladle and poured it down his throat. Zuko reached over to the bucket and drank it too but missed most of it and it ended up on the bed and his body. He laid back down after that and Iroh covered him back up. He gave a worried look to Emilia who gave him a worried looks back. She looked back down at him and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek.

"You'll be okay," Emilia whispered hoping he heard her.

Zuko was out for the rest of the day and most of the next. He was burning up and sweating like he was on fire. His face distorted a lot like he was having a bad dream and that worried Emilia even more. She wished she could go into his head and push all the bad thoughts aside.

"He's going to be okay," Iroh assured her as he poured some tea for the three in the room. "You should know this is not a natural sickness, but that shouldn't stop either of you from enjoying tea." He handed Emilia a cup and helped Zuko sit up so he could drink some too.

"What's happening?" Zuko asked his voice a little worried.

"You're critical decision," Iroh told him. "What you did beneath that lake; it was in such conflict with your image of yourself that you are now at war within your own mind and body."

"What's that mean?" Zuko asked.

"You are going through a metamorphosis my nephew," Iroh said. "It will not be a pleasant experience but when you come out of it you will be the beautiful prince you were always meant to be." Zuko had laid down and fallen asleep again after that. Iroh had left to do some shopping and Emilia made sure he remembered the list this time. Zuko still had a fever and Emilia was doing her best to keep the cold cloth on his head but she was worried he would get too cold and it would make him even more sick. She had never really been good at taking care of people.

It was about the next morning before something good happened. Everyone was asleep when Zuko screamed and shot out of bed. Emilia jerked awake and so did Iroh. Zuko seemed a little out of breath like he'd had a very bad dream or something. He looked around the room and his uncle and Emilia before running his fingers through his hair and throwing the blankets off.

"I'm okay," he said before laying back down. Iroh and Emilia looked at each other and shrugged before laying back down to go to sleep.

A few days later Zuko's fever had finally broken so they were able to move into their new apartment. He was still a little groggy which was strange because he'd done nothing but sleep for a week. Maybe having a fever took more out of someone than you would think. Iroh was in the kitchen cooking some breakfast and Emilia was arranging the living room for the third time since they'd been there. She must have inherited her sense of design from her mother because she had rearranged their whole house time and time again. Zuko came out of the back room with a yawn; he seemed to be doing much better today.

"What's that smell?" he asked as he approached his uncle.

"Juk," Iroh said simply. "I'm sure you wouldn't like it." Emilia's stomach growled at that moment and she went into the kitchen to see Zuko smelling the contents of the pot.

"Actually it smells delicious, I'd love bowl Uncle," Iroh looked at him strangely before glancing at Emilia who had a similar look on her face. She shook her head and shrugged not exactly sure what she was supposed to say.

"Now that your fever is gone you seem different somehow," Iroh said as he scooped out some of the food and put it in Zuko's bowl.

"It's a new day," Zuko said simply. "We've got a new apartment, new furniture, and today's the grand opening at your new teashop. Things are looking up Uncle." Iroh's face softened and he scooped Emilia some food too.

"I don't know what you did with our pouty prince, but leave him there," Emilia said sitting at the table. "I like this new Zuko."

"Thanks Emilia, love you too," Zuko said with a smirk. Emilia stuck her tongue out at him and ate her breakfast.

The Jasmine Dragon's grand opening was more popular than the three expected it to be. People were almost lined up to get inside and they were kept very busy. There were even people to serve the tea for them instead of them having to do it. Emilia congratulated Iroh several times since the day started telling him every time that it was amazing to think that he could own his own business. She still volunteered to work in the back and supervise saying that the workers would need a gentle woman's touch to move smoothly. It was all going pretty well and life was looking up for them all.

"Guess who?" A voice said as a pair of hands were placed over Emilia's eyes.

"Iroh?" Emilia joked and turned around in Zuko's arms. The prince smiled at her and took her lips in a very sweet kiss. Everything was so different about him today; it was like he was a completely different person.

"What's gotten into you today?" Emilia asked with a giggle as Zuko led her to the back room. He led her to the wall and pressed her back against it before dipping his head down and laying kisses along her neck. She let out a few sighs and moans before he lifted his head and ran his thumb over the mark he had just made. He looked at Emilia with a look that made her stomach do summer saults. Without thinking she grabbed his collar and pulled him down to kiss her. There was nothing needy about his kiss; it wasn't as intense or as fiery as the ones before. This one was very sweet and passionate.

"You know, I wasn't just messing with you this morning when I said I loved you," Zuko said when they pulled apart. He rested his forehead on Emilia's and took her hand and placed it on his chest over his heart. It was beating rather quickly and it felt like it was going to explode out of his chest.

"Say it again," Emilia instructed.

"I love you," Zuko said as he planted another kiss on her lips. Emilia kissed him back and wrapped her arms securely around his neck.

"You wanna know something Zuko?" Emilia asked in a whisper. "I love you too."

The two had gotten back to work after that. Zuko tried to sneak a kiss in every chance he got and Emilia was more than happy to give him a peck or two. Iroh gave them a few looks from time to time and reminded them that work wasn't the place to conceive grandchildren. Emilia's face turned a thousand shades of pink and it got even redder when Zuko told his uncle that they would just go home and do it. The day had finally come to an end and the trio were cleaning up the tea shop when a man came in with a scroll for Iroh.

"A message from the royal palace," the man said as he handed the scroll to Iroh. He read it for a moment before a surprised look befell his face.

"I . . . I can't believe it," Iroh gasped.

"What is it Uncle?" Zuko asked.

"Yea, what's it say?" Emilia inquired.

"Great news," Iroh exclaimed. "We've been invited to serve tea to the Earth King!"

"Uncle, that's wonderful!" Emilia exclaimed and hugged him. He ran to the back of the shop; probably wanting to decide what kinds of tea he wanted to serve the Earth King. Zuko kept sweeping and Emilia looked at him with a smile.

"Life's looking up for us, huh?" Emilia said grabbing hold of Zuko's hand and kissing it.

"Don't tell me you didn't foresee this," Zuko said with a smile. Emilia shook her head and pulled Zuko into her arms.

"I told you before; I can't see everything."


	12. The Tears of Betrayal

The next day came and everyone got dressed in their very best clothes. Iroh made sure to pack the best tea he had and his nicest pot in case they had they had to use their own. Zuko was still in a good mood which made it easier for the other two to be in a good mood. The sun was shining, birds were singing, puffy white clouds decorated the sky; everything was simply perfect. One of the king's carriages even took them to the palace. It was very fancy.

"Many times I imagine myself here at the threshold of the palace," Iroh said as they came to the gates. "But I envisioned myself as a conqueror; instead we are the Earth King's personal guests here to serve him tea. Destiny is a funny thing."

"It sure is Uncle," Zuko agreed.

"It's funny to think that a few months ago the idea of ever being here was just a day dream," Emilia added. "Ba Sing Se isn't so bad after all." Once inside the three were set up in a small room where they were to be serving the tea. The king wasn't there yet so they just decided to set up anyway. After a while they were starting to get worried.

"What's taking so long?" Zuko asked.

"Maybe the Earth King overslept?" Iroh suggested.

"I don't think kings get to sleep in," Emilia added. Just then a bunch of Dai Li agents started filling the room. Emilia scooted closer to Zuko and grabbed onto his clothes to silently voice her concern.

"Something's not right," Zuko said eyeing the men as they entered.

"It's tea time," an all too familiar voice said.

"Azula," Zuko confirmed as he stood.

"Have you met the Dai Li?" Azula asked. "They're earth benders with a killer instinct that's so fire bender; I just love it."

"Did I ever tell you how I got the nickname 'Dragon of the West'?" Iroh asked standing up. Zuko grabbed hold of Emilia's hand and pulled her to her feet so he could stand in front of her.

"I'm not interested in a lengthy anecdote, Uncle," Azula said a little annoyed.

"It's more of a demonstration really," Iroh said taking a sip of his tea. Zuko pulled on Emilia's arm towards the adjacent wall as Iroh breathed fire at the surrounding men. Zuko broke the wall down and ran down the corridor pulling Emilia along with him. Iroh fallowed close behind but so did the Dai Li. They shot the fingers of their rock gloves at the three as they turned the corner and blew another wall out that let outside. Iroh and Emilia jumped out the hole onto the shrubbery below but Zuko stayed in the building.

"Come on, you'll be fine!" Iroh called to Zuko.

"No, I'm tired of running," Zuko called back. "It's time I faced Azula."

"Don't be a hero, hot head!" Emilia called but he had already turned around and left. "What the fuck are we supposed to do now?" Emilia looked at Iroh who was getting up and running the other direction. She ran after him, hoping he knew what he was doing. They ended up in a neighborhood in front of a very big house.

"What are we doing here?" Emilia asked as Iroh knocked on the door. Emilia tapped her foot impatiently as the door opened and a little girl in green was there; Toph.

"Glad to see you're okay," she said talking mostly to Iroh.

"We need your help," Iroh said. Aang and Sokka seemed rather shocked.

"You guys know each other?" Aang questioned.

"We met each other in the woods once and I knocked him down," Toph explained. "Then he gave me tea, and some very good advice."

"May we come in?" Iroh asked and Toph nodded. The two entered and Aang and Sokka still seemed rather shocked and skeptical.

"Princess Azula is here in Ba Sing Se," Iroh stated.

"She must have Katara," Aang said.

"She has captured my nephew as well," Iroh added.

"Then we'll work together to fight Azula and save Katara and Zuko,"

"Whoa there, you lost me at 'Zuko,'" Sokka interrupted.

"I know how you must feel about my nephew, but believe me when I tell you there is good inside him," Iroh pleaded.

"Good inside him isn't enough," Sokka protested. "Why don't you come back when it's outside him too, okay?"

"Like you're perfect, ponytail," Emilia spat.

"Ponytail?"

"Sokka, Katara's in trouble; all of Ba Sing Se is in trouble," Aang reminded him. "Working together is our best chance." Sokka nodded his head then looked at Emilia and Iroh.

"I brought someone along who might be able to help us," Iroh said as he walked back outside.

"You guys are gonna love this," Emilia added. They walked outside to see a Dia Li agent tied up on the porch. Toph did some fancy earth bending and had him wedged between two slabs of rock. The man looked scared as Iroh approached him and took the gag off his mouth.

"Azula and Long Feng are plotting a Ku, they're planning to overthrow the Earth King," the man said.

"My sister; where are they keeping Katara?" Sokka asked as he pointed his sword at the man.

"The crystal catacombs of old Ba Sing Se; deep beneath the palace," the man said. Everyone ran off leaving the man where he was. They finally stopped at the entrance of the palace and Toph started feeling around on the ground.

"Well what do you know, there is an ancient city down there; but it's deep," Toph said before she made hole in the ground.

"We should split up," Sokka suggested. "Aang, you go with Iroh and Emilia to find Katara and the angry jerk-no offence."

"None taken," the two said in unison.

"And I'll go with Toph to warn the Earth King about Azula's Ku,"

"Be careful, she's a crafty bitch," Emilia warned before going down the hole with the other two. Iroh made a flame in his hand while Aang earth bended the rock out of the way.

"So Toph thinks you give pretty good advice and great tea," Aang said to Iroh.

"The key to both is proper aging," Iroh said. "What's on your mind?"

"Well I met with this guru who was supposed to help me master the Avatar State and control this great power," Aang explained. "But to do it I have to let go of someone I love, but I just couldn't." He seemed so sad as he finished his thought.

"Perfection and power are overrated," Iroh told him. "I think you are wise to choose happiness and love."

"What happens if I can't save everyone and beat Azula?" Aang questioned. "Without the Avatar State what if I'm not powerful enough?"

"I don't know the answer," Iroh said. "Sometimes life is like this dark tunnel; you can't always see the light at the end of the tunnel but if you just keep moving you will come to a better place." They had reached the end of the cave at this point and entered the crystal catacombs. Everything was tinted green and it was all so beautiful.

"By the way, we never really had a formal introduction," Aang said turning his attention to Emilia.

"I'm Emilia," she said with a smile.

"Aang," he introduced. They began making their way through the labyrinth that was the catacombs. They had come to several dead ends and some that ended in booby traps.

"Emilia, are you sure you can't see anything that would help us?" Iroh asked, earning a look from Aang.

"No, If I had seen any of this I would have made us stay home today," Emilia stated, feeling guilty that this had slipped her mind.

"What are you talking about?" Aang asked. Emilia turned her attention to him and waved him off.

"Oh nothing, I can just see the future," Emilia said. "I'm just you're average sixteen-year-old…wait, do you hear that?" No one said anything as Emilia stood there. She whipped her head around and the other two were looking the same placed she was.

"I hear voices . . ." She told them. "They're coming from over here." She started running and the others followed close behind. She finally stopped at a certain wall and pressed her ear to it. She heard mumbles and then it got really quiet.

"Here," she instructed. Aang used his earth bending to break the wall down and enter the room on the other side.

"Aang!" Katara called when she saw her friend. She ran up to him and gave him a huge hug.

"Zuko!" Emilia called when she saw him. Her and Iroh ran to him and gave him the biggest hug he had probably ever had.

"Uncle I don't understand, what are you two doing with the Avatar?" Zuko questioned.

"Saving you, that's what," Aang said making Zuko lunge at him. Iroh held him back and looked at him sternly.

"Zuko, It's time we talked," he said. "Go help your other friends; we'll catch up with you." With that Aang and Katara left, but Katara had a rather solemn look on her face making Emilia wonder what had happened between them.

"Why Uncle?" Zuko asked, sounding like a little kid.

"You're not the man you used to be Zuko," Iroh stated. "You are stronger and wiser and freer than you have ever been and now you have come to the crossroads of your destiny. It's time for you to choose; it's time for you to choose good." Before Zuko could say anything Iroh was encased in a prison of crystals along with Emilia. Azula and some Dai Li agents came into the room then.

"I expected this kind of treachery from Uncle and some useless hobo, but Zuko; Prince Zuko you're a lot of things but you're not a traitor are you?" Azula said in a mocking tone.

"Release them immediately," Zuko ordered.

"It's not too late, you can still redeem yourself Zuko," Azula told him.

"The kind of redemption she offers is not for you," Iroh said.

"Don't listen to her hot head," Emilia added.

"Why don't you let him decide traitors?" Azula snapped. "I need you Zuko. I've plotted every move of this day; this glorious day in Fire Nation history and the only way we win is together. At the end of this day your honor back, you will have father's love, you will have everything you want."

"Zuko, I am begging you please look into your heart and see what it is that you truly want," Iroh pleaded. Zuko looked at him with a torn expression before glancing over at Emilia who was fighting back tears.

"You are free to choose," Azula said before walking down the cave to the next room. Emilia felt tears forming in her eyes and she tried her best to contain is.

"Please Zuko, don't do this . . ." Emilia pleaded quietly. "Think about me and Iroh, we love you and we always have."

"Listen to reason Zuko, please," Iroh pleaded. Zuko was quiet and he kept looking at the ground. He was trying to decide what he wanted. Emilia couldn't hold them back anymore; the tears of betrayal stung in her eyes and fell like waterfalls down he cheeks. She let her head hang the best she could as a few sobs escaped her throat. Iroh looked at her with a sad look but Zuko didn't even flinch.

"Fine then just go!" Emilia shouted. "It's what you want, right; for daddy to love you and to live in your precious palace again? Even through everything you're still just a spoiled rotten prince! Well, why are you still standing there? Fucking go already!" Zuko didn't turn to look at either of them as he took off after Azula. When Zuko was far enough away Iroh broke the crystals and took Emilia into his arms. She cried and cried until she was too tired to cry.

"You must escape," Iroh told her. "They'll put you in a jail cell."

"Better there than out in the open where I have no allies, right?" Emilia said, leading him through the path to where the fighting was taking place. The sight was a horrific one. Aang was in Katara's arms and his clothes were all singed. He appeared to be unconscious. Just when they were about to be attacked Iroh shot a blast of fire at their attackers and stepped in front of them.

"Go now, I'll hold them off as long as I can," Iroh said. He shot some fire blasts at the Dai Li agents then looked over to see Emilia was still at his side.

"Go with them,"

"No, I'm not leaving you again," Emilia said, taking a fighting stance Iroh wasn't familiar with. "I may not be able to bend but I can still give them an old fashioned ass kicking." Iroh kept shooting fire at the while Emilia tried to punch a few of them. When Katara and Aang got away they gave up on fighting. They couldn't fight them off forever so it was better to surrender peacefully instead of fighting and not being able to get medical attention. Iroh gave Zuko an ashamed look and Emilia just looked at the ground.

The ride to the fire nation was long and they were kept in cells the entire time. When they arrived they were thrown into different cells on complete opposite sides of the cell block. Emilia wished more than anything she could have at least been near Iroh so she didn't feel so alone. She spent most of the days in the back corner of her cell and didn't move unless there was food. The food was terrible and she was only given enough rations to keep her alive. She didn't want to live anymore though, she just wanted to die. She was never going to see her mom or her dad again and the chances of Zuko magically rescuing her were slim.

Today was like all the other days except she was lucky enough to have a "visitor" that day. She assumed it was one of the generals coming in to use her as a sex toy again. The last couple guys she was able to ward off by biting them but she didn't know how long that would last. She was surprised to see the pampered prince sitting on the other side of the cell door. Emilia looked at him with a blank expression before looking back at the wall.

"So you won't say anything either?" He asked. "Uncle refused to look at me and even when I said I was sorry he still didn't even flinch." Emilia didn't look at him or even acknowledge that she had heard him. She wanted him to suffer.

"I didn't know they would do this to you," he continued. "If I had known they would have locked you up I-"

"You would have what?" Emilia asked, not looking at him. "It's bad enough I have military fuck heads coming in here and trying to rob me of the last piece of dignity I have left, now I have you in here trying to justify what you did. News flash Zuko, I could give a rats ass if you're sorry. You had something great; a great life, a great family, people who loved you no matter what you had done in your past and you threw it all away. And for what; just do you could get your dad's seal of approval." Emilia looked over to Zuko with an angry look on her face. He was looking at her and he seemed rather shocked at what she had said. Emilia got up from where she was sitting and walked over to the edge of the cell before sitting down and looking Zuko straight in the eye. She took off her over shirt and revealed a very bruised body. The only part that looked fine was her chest and that was only because it was covered by those bandages she wore. All Zuko could do was stare.

"I have taken a bite of every guy who had touched me since I've been here," Emilia told him. "Every last one of them has given me another set of bruises but there's one bastard who left a mark on me that I haven't bit."-Emilia pointed to her neck where the mark Zuko had left was. It was fading and not as visible as the others but it was still there.-"I loved you Zuko."

"I'll tell them your cell is off limits," Zuko said solemnly. "It's the least I can do."

"No, keep them coming," Emilia told him. "Maybe if I'm lucky one of them will kill me." With that Emilia crawled back to her corner and stared at the wall. She waited until Zuko left before she let any tears fall.


	13. Additions to the Family

Months went by and Emilia was still stuck in her cell. No one had tried to make any advances on her but it wasn't enough. At this point being raped would at least give her something to look forward to besides being in this cell all alone. Zuko didn't visit anymore but it wasn't like he was expected to. He was probably living it up with Mai; telling her how much he loved her and wanted to be with her. It seemed like only yesterday when he was saying things like that to her. Azula had stopped by once to taunt her but got frustrated when Emilia didn't give in.

"Zuko's much happier without you, you know," She had said. Emilia didn't answer; she just sat in her corner like she always did. Zuko probably was happier now that his father loved him and he didn't have to worry about chasing down the Avatar anymore.

"Azula, do me a favor and go shove a flaming torch up your ass," Emilia said in a neutral voice. She didn't look at the princess but she knew she was seething. It didn't matter though because she left before things could get out of hand.

It was times like this when Emilia really wanted to go home. Sometimes when she closed her eyes she could see her mom smiling at her like she did every day. Her dad was giving her one of those goofy grins and her brother was teasing her about something dumb. Everything was easier before this all started. There were times when Emilia didn't want to eat because she wanted to starve and other times when she would break her plates so she could use the sharp pieces to slit her wrists. She would never cut deep enough and she would always just be too hungry to not eat. She hated having to live like this but there was one thing she was hoping for; the Day of Black Sun. The fire benders would be powerless and she could maybe make an escape. She had been practicing some stuff she learned in a self-defense class so she would stand a bit more of a chance but she knew the odds were still against her. The worst thing that would happen would be that she would get stuck in another cell or killed. Either way she was fucked so the least she could do was give it a shot.

It was hard to tell when the day rolled around; all the days just blended together around here. The only real give away was all the screaming and shouting and the sounds of fighting. Emilia held her breath a little hoping her plan would work. She let out a sigh and removed her over shirt and stood by the cell door with her chest pressed against the bars. She saw one of the guards running down the corridor.

"Hey, where's the fire?" she asked with a bit of a squeak in her voice. The man looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"We're under attack, get away from the door of your cell," he said. Emilia smirked and bit her lip.

"And what if I don't? What are you gonna do about it?" She asked. She reached her hand out to touch his arm and mentally cringed at what she was doing. The man looked at her hand on his arm and fallowed it as it slid down to his hand and pulled him closer to the cell.

"I've been bad, haven't I?" Emilia teased with a pouted lip. "Why don't you come in here and punish me; I'm sure they'll be able to hold off the rebels without you." The guy's smirk grew as he unlocked the cell door. Emilia moved to the back wall and motioned for him to fallow her with her finger. He walked over to her to quickly to notice that she had lifted her knee so it would make contact with his groin. She kneed him in the head and pulled one of his arms behind his back before tying him to one of the chains on the wall.

"You're such a good sport," Emilia said as she grabbed the keys from his pocket and ran down the hall to find Iroh. He was already in the process of breaking out when she got there which left her a little disappointed.

"And here I thought I was going to save you," Emilia pouted Iroh smiled at her and told her to fallow him. She did as she was told and fallowed him as they quickly made their way out of the prison. The eclipse was coming to an end and Emilia worried they wouldn't make it out in time. As they neared the edge of the city Iroh turned and looked at Emilia.

"You cannot come with me; you must go with the Avatar,"

"I'm not being separated from you again, Uncle," Emilia protested. Iroh put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. She hugged him back tightly.

"We will meet again; your visions should tell you that,"

"I can't see everything," Emilia reminded him.

"You must help the Avatar," Iroh told her and pointed her in the right direction. "Parting with you is hard; it's like parting with my daughter. But I promise we will see each other again."

"I love you Uncle," Emilia said giving him one last hug.

"And I you my little fortune teller,"  
>By the time Emilia reached the area where everyone else was the fire benders were getting ready to launch a counter attack. She stumbled a bit when she saw Appa flying overhead and tried to remember what was going to happen. She wracked her brain but everything was failing her as far as remembering what to do. She had been here too long. She saw some people in blue meaning they were water tribe so she decided to fallow them.<p>

"Sokka, Toph wait for me!" Emilia shouted. The two turned as Emilia ran up to them but they didn't really stop running.

"Emi, you're alive!" Toph said happily.

"Less talk more run," Emilia said. It seemed like running wasn't getting them anywhere; the fire nation just kept perusing them in their ships.

"Try to find cover, I think we're about to see some bombs," Sokka warned. Toph made a slate of earth over everyone so they would be shielded but the blow of the bombs was still felt. The ground shook and the slate broke so Toph had to fix it. When the explosions stopped everyone expected them to stop and turn around so they could drop more.

"Why aren't they turning around to attack us again?" Katara asked.

"They're headed for the beach," Aang observed. "They're going to destroy the submarines!"

"How are we all going to escape?" Sokka asked sadly.

"We're not," a man said. Every turned around and looked at a man who appeared to be injured.

"Then our only choice is to stand and fight," Sokka said. "We have the Avatar; we could still win."

"Yes with the Avatar we could still win on another day," the injured man said. "You kids have to leave; you have to escape on Appa together."

"What? We can't leave you behind," Katara said rushing to the man. "We won't leave anyone behind."

"You're our only chance in the long run," he said. "You and Sokka have to go with Aang somewhere safe; it's the only way to keep hope alive."

"The youngest of our group should go with you," another man said. "The adults will stay behind and surrender. We'll be prisoners but we'll all survive this battle."

"I've got some experience with fire nation prisons," a man in Earth Kingdom clothes said. "It's not going to be easy, but we'll get by." Everyone watched in horror as the Fire Nation ships got to the beach and started blowing up the submarines. Everyone knew what had to be done so they said their good-byes and got on Appa. There were sad faces all around as they flew away but none as sad as Aang. He had failed and he felt so guilty. Emilia wanted to tell him it would all be okay but she didn't want to draw any attention to herself.

"I know just the place for us to go where we'll be safe for a while; the Western Air Temple," Aang told everyone.

"How come you didn't go running to Zuko after you escaped?" Katara asked with the slightest hint of venom in her voice.

"Because the next time I see him I'm gonna shove my foot so far up his ass he's going to barf my shoe out," Emilia said with a smile on her face. Katara raised an eyebrow as her choice of words.

"That bad?" Toph asked.

"Oh yea, that bad,"

The trip to the temple wasn't that long but after Appa got tired everyone had to walk. Emilia had long since taken her over shirt off her shoulders and let it hang at her sides from the belt. Everyone was excited to finally get to the temple and relax but Haru, The Duke, and Teo wanted to explore the temple a little. They invited Emilia along and she was more than happy to come. They explored the temple for hours and Teo even offered Emilia a ride with him in his wheel chair. She hadn't had any kind of fun like this in months and now she was having the time of her life.

Emilia decided to return to the others to check in and see if she could be of help in any way. After travelling around with Zuko she knew she was already on the bottom of the list with being trusted so she wanted to make a good impression on everyone so she could stay in the group. She wasn't really useful as far as fighting or bending was concerned but she knew just about all the moves to every major fight and she knew other important things that would help them so she would be useful somehow.

"And what was all that crazy stuff about setting Appa free; what a liar," she heard Katara say. Emilia hid behind a pillar so they wouldn't notice her. Probably not the best idea but at the moment she didn't want to get involved in whatever they were bickering about.

"Actually, he wasn't lying," Toph said.

"Oh hooray, in a lifetime of evil at least he didn't add animal cruelty to his list," Sokka retorted.

"I'm just saying that considering his messed up family and how he was raised he could have turned out a lot worse," Toph said calmly.

"You're right Toph, let's go find him and give him a medal," Katara said mockingly. "The 'not as much of a jerk as you could have been' award."

"All I know is that while he was talking to us he was sincere," Toph went on. "Maybe you're all just letting your hurt feelings keep you from thinking clearly."

"Easy for you to say, you weren't there when he had us attacked by pirates," Katara said.

"Or when he burned down Kiyoshi island," Sokka added.

"Or when he tried to capture me at the fire temple," Aang finished.

"Why would you even try to defend him?"

"Because Katara you're all ignoring one crucial fact; Aang needs a fire bending teacher," Toph pointed out. "We can't think of a single person in the whole world to do the job and now one shows up on a silver platter and you won't even think about it?" Toph sounded angry and Emilia couldn't help but feel the same way. She was angry with Zuko for what he did but Aang needed a teacher or none of this was going to work out right.

"I'm not having Zuko as my teacher," Aang said sternly.

"You're darn right you're not, buddy," Sokka added.

"Well I guess that's settled," Katara said in that snide little voice of hers.

"I'm beginning to wonder who's really the blind one around here," Toph said as she stormed off. Emilia thought about her words and was tempted to fallow her but then Katara opened her mouth again.

"Zuko being a good guy; ridiculous,"

"Okay listen bitch," Emilia began as she rounded the corner and got in Katara's face. "Yea Zuko fucked all of us over in Ba Sing Se; you guys had to live in hiding while I had to sit in a jail cell to rot, but if I ever hear you say shit like that again I will rip your hair out. He may not be the poster child for good but he's not as much of an ass as you think. He saved my life on more than one occasion and he rescued Appa. If you knew even half the shit he's gone through your brain would explode trying to process it."

"Oh so you're going to defend him too?" Katara snapped. "Maybe you should go find him and be all lovey dovey again." Emilia grabbed Katara's shirt and held onto the collar. It was all she could do to not punch her in the face.

"Maybe you're the one who needs a foot shoved up their ass," Emilia said before storming off to find the others. She knew it wasn't the best idea to do that but it had to be done. Zuko was a good person deep down and all he needed was a chance to prove it. She didn't want to admit it but she still loved him and wanted to be with him again. She couldn't forgive what he did but the empty feeling in her chest wouldn't be as bad if he was closer to her again.

Emilia slept very little that night mostly because she was thinking about Zuko. Haru and Teo had invited her to go exploring again after breakfast and she was more than willing to take them up on it. The only problem about this morning was Toph was nowhere to be found. Haru and the others had volunteered to go looking for her and invited Emilia to come along. They all rushed up a flight of stairs and started looking in random rooms but she was nowhere to be found. Emilia wracked her brain to try to remember if anything bad would happen today but she couldn't think of anything. It was frustrating to say the least. It wasn't until she heard and explosion that she remembered.

When the others rushed to where Aang and everyone was they saw that things were getting blown up. Emilia was about to tell everyone to hide when she heard a familiar voice.

"Stop, I don't want you hunting the Avatar anymore," Zuko's voice said. "The mission is off; I'm ordering you to stop." That obviously didn't work because the assassin pushed Zuko out of the way and started shooting the mind blasts at the gang. Emilia watched in horror as Zuko fought off the assassin and let out a cry when he was knocked off the side of the ledge they were on.

"Guys, get over here," Emilia ushered the others over. They ran over to where she was while Aang and Katara did some fancy bending. It was quiet for a moment before he started blowing stuff up again.

"He's going to blast this whole place right off the cliff side," Toph said.

"I can't step out to water bend at him without getting blown up," Katara added. "And I can't get a good enough angle on him from down here.

"Emilia you can see the future, what do we do?" Aang asked looking at her.

"Stick our head between our legs and kiss our butts good-bye; I don't know!" Emilia said, crouching down as another blast hit the ground. Sokka looked at the ground for a second before moving to the edge of the wall they were hiding behind. He got out his boomerang and lined it up with there the assassin was shooting his blasts and threw it. Everyone rushed out just as the boomerang was returning.

"Yea, boomerang!" Sokka said happily but it was short lived as the assassin got up. "Aww, boomerang." They all ran to hide again but there was a big explosion and the part of the cliff where the assassin was fell to the ground far below. Everyone ran to the edge where it had crumbled off and looked in awe. They all looked at each other before looking up and seeing Zuko climbing up a vine onto the ledge above. Everyone went back to Toph and waited for Zuko to come to them.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but, thanks Zuko," Aang said

"Hey what about me? I did the boomerang thing," Sokka interjected.

"Oh shut up pony tail," Emilia said with a smile.

"Listen, I know I didn't explain myself very well yesterday," Zuko began. "I been through a lot in the past few years and it's been hard, but I'm realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I'd lost my honor and that somehow my father could return it to me, but I know now that no one can give you your honor; it's something you have to earn for yourself by choosing to do what's right." As he spoke he looked at Emilia who turned her head away.

"All I want now is to part in ending this war, and I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world" Zuko went on then turned to Toph. "I'm sorry for what I did to you; it was an accident. Fire can be dangerous and wild so as a fire bender I need to be careful and control my bending so I don't hurt people unintentionally." Again, he looked at Emilia like he was talking to her. She met his gaze for a moment but looked away again. He was giving her that look that made her feel like he could see right through her and she didn't like it.

"I think you are supposed to be my fire bending teacher," Aang said. "When I first tried to learn fire bending I burned Katara; after that I never wanted to fire bend again. But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love; I'd like you to teach me." Zuko got a coy little smile on his face and his eyes seemed to light up.

"Thank you," Zuko said. "I'm so happy you've accepted me into your group."

"Not so fast, I still have to ask my friends if it's okay with them," Aang stated before turning to the others. "Toph you're the one that Zuko burned; what do you think?"

"Go ahead and let him join, it'll give me plenty of time to get back at him for burning my feet,"

"Sokka?

"Hey I just want to defeat the Fire Lord," Sokka stated. "If you think this is the way to do it then I'm all for it."

"Katara?" she was silent for what felt like too long.

"I'll go along with whatever you think is right," she said angrily.

"And what about you Emi?" so she was the deal breaker, huh? Emilia looked up at Zuko but quickly looked to Aang.

"After the way I acted yesterday it would be pretty bad if I didn't say yes, right?" Emilia said with a smile.

"I won't let you down, I promise!" Zuko said happily. No one else said anything as they all left. Emilia stayed behind and looked at Zuko for a long moment before walking up to him. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at his shirt. Zuko looked down at her and hesitantly reached up to touch her but decided against it. Emilia sheepishly look up at him before pulling her arm back and connecting her hand to his face in a very audible smack. There was a red mark on his face from her hand and Zuko seemed more than shocked.

"That was for not trying harder to make me forgive you," Emilia said sternly. Zuko looked at her and the corners of his lips picked up in a smile. "Doesn't mean I do, but I'm glad you're here."

"I missed you so much," Zuko said. "I'm so sorry for everything that happened to you."

"Are you gonna hug me or just stand there talking?" That was all he needed to hear before he wrapped his arms around Emilia in a very tight embrace. He pulled away and leaned in to kiss her but Emilia stopped him and gave him a stern look.

"I said I wanted a hug, not a kiss," she told him.

"I guess I deserve that."

"You also deserve to have your genitals cut off but I think I'll let that one slide," Zuko's face became pale at the thought of someone doing that to him and Emilia just laughed as she too walked away.


	14. Bonding

The fire bending teaching began the next day. Zuko and Aang went off by themselves while the others had a chance for some fun. Emilia explored some more with Haru, Teo, and The Duke while the other three talked about strategies. It was boring to say the least which is why exploring was so much more fun. The day drew to an end eventually and everyone was gathered around the fire eating their dinner. Everyone except for Zuko that is. Emilia wondered where he could have run off to and hoped he wasn't too far away. She made a mental note to save some food so he could have some if he didn't get any by bed time.

"Listen everybody, I have some pretty bad news," Zuko's voice said from behind. "I've lost my stuff."

"Don't look at me I didn't touch your stuff," Toph said defensively.

"I'm talking about my fire bending," Zuko said sadly. "It's gone." Katara burst out laughing and earned a look from everyone.

"I'm sorry, I'm just laughing at the irony," she said. "You know, how it would have been nice for us if you'd lost your fire bending a long time ago."

"Foot in ass, Katara," Emilia grumbled angrily earning a look.

"Well it's not lost it's just weaker for some reason,"

"Maybe you're just not as good as you think you are," Katara said snidely.

"Foot. In. Ass." Emilia grumbled again.

"I bet it's because I changed sides," Zuko said hopefully.

"That's ridiculous."

"I don't know, maybe it isn't," Aang said. "Maybe your fire bending comes from rage and you just don't have enough anger to fuel it the way you used to."

"So all we have to do is make Zuko angry enough," Sokka said before he started poking the prince with a stick. After a few seconds he got annoyed with it though.

"Okay, cut it out!" he shouted. "Look even if you're right I don't I don't want to rely on anger and hate anymore; there has to be another way."

"You're going to have to draw your bending from a different source," Toph said. "I recommend the original source."

"How's he supposed to do that, by jumping into a volcano?" Sokka asked with a laugh.

"No," Toph said simply. "Zuko needs to go back to the original source of whatever fire bending was."

"So is it jumping into a volcano?"

"I don't know; for earth bending the original earth benders were badger moles," Toph explained. "One day when I was little I ran away and hid in a cave; that's where I met them. They were blind just like me so we understood each other. I was able to understand earth bending not just as a martial art but as an extension of my senses. For them-the original earth benders-it wasn't just about fighting; it was their way of interacting with the world."

"That's amazing Toph," Aang said once she was finished. "I learned from the monks but the first air benders were the sky bison; maybe you could give me a lesson some time buddy." Appa just made a noise and went back to his hay.

"Well that doesn't help me; the original fire benders were the dragons and they're extinct,"

"What do you mean?" Aang asked. "Roku had a dragon and there were plenty of dragons when I was a kid."

"Well they aren't around anymore okay?" Zuko snapped.

"Okay, okay. Sorry,"

"But maybe there's another way," Zuko mused. "The first people to learn from the dragons were the ancient Sun Warriors."

"Sun Warriors? Well I know they weren't around when I was a kid," Aang said.

"No, they died off thousands of years ago," Zuko confirmed. "But their civilization isn't too far from where we are now. Maybe we can learn something from poking around their ruins."

"It's like the monks used to tell me; the shadows of the past can be filled by the present."

"So what, maybe you'll pick up some old Sun Warrior energy from standing where they stood a thousand years ago?" Sokka asked.

"More or less," Zuko confirmed. "Either I find a new way to fire bend or the Avatar needs to find a new teacher." No one wanted to think about that of course. The chances of them finding a fire bender who was willing to help them were slim.

Zuko was having a hard time sleeping that night. His mind kept going from his father to Aang and to Emilia. He had made a good impression on Aang so everything was good in that area so all he really needed to do was make sure he learned fire bending in time to fight off his father. Well that and he needed to get his own fire bending back. His thoughts jumped to Emilia and the spot where she slapped him started hurting again. He needed to find a way to prove himself to her too. Sleeping was becoming a chore so Zuko just decided to get up and walk around a bit to get himself tired. He was making his way back to the fountain area and swore he heard someone talking-or singing. As he rounded the corner her saw Emilia by the fountain; she was sitting on the ground by it with her hand in the water. She was singing that song too.

Zuko watched her for a few minutes and just listened to her sing. He knew that if she caught him he would be taking several steps back and that was the last thing he needed at a time like this. So he stood where he was and listened to her sing for a moment while he grew the cajones to go talk to her. It was then he noticed she was crying. His feet started thinking on their own because he ran out to her and pulled her into his arms. This obviously scared her so she tried to scream but Zuko put his hand over her mouth so she couldn't.

"It's only me, don't scream," Zuko said. Emilia looked at him and ripped his hand off her mouth.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Emilia whispered harshly. She tried to remove herself from Zuko's grasp but he wouldn't let go. He didn't even loosen his grip when she threatened to slap him again.

"I don't want you crying alone anymore," Zuko told her. She was a little taken aback by what he said so she stopped struggling. Why would it matter if she was crying now? She spent most of her months in a cell crying alone so why was now any different.

"Go back to bed Zuko," Emilia said softly before returning her gaze to the water. Zuko just shook his head and buried his face in the crook of her neck. His hot breath sent shivers down her spine and she hoped he didn't notice; but he did. He didn't want to do anything too drastic and make her mad so he just started kissing her neck a little. It felt nice to have his soft lips on her skin again but then she remember that she was supposed to be mad at him so she jerked away making him hit his chin on her shoulder.

"You don't have the right to do that," Emilia told him. "Just leave before I decided to rid you of your manhood." Zuko let out a sigh but got up to leave anyway. He let his fingers linger on her skin making her shiver again.

They left the next morning and everyone went on with their day as normal. Emilia decided to go off by herself for a while to think and practice on her fighting. She knew she was good for some things but when it came to battles she was just a lump on a log. Lucky for her there was a big secluded room where she could practice her fighting. She set up some logs and rocks that she could use as punching bags for the time being and started hitting them. She was doing her regular "left hook right hook" thing which usually did her good when she got into a fight at school or something but she was started to think it wasn't the best means of fighting. There was only four ways you could fight here and if she didn't know any of them then she was screwed. It was basically martial art even if she couldn't bend. She tried the technique used by air benders but she kept falling on her ass. She tried water bending but it was too smooth for her. Earth bending was a little more aggressive but didn't really do much since she couldn't lift rocks. That left fire bending. She tried to remember some of the things she had seen Zuko and Iroh do and tried to mimic them. She liked this one a lot better than the other three so she kept on with it until she heard someone coming towards the room she was in. She stopped and turned to the entrance only to see Haru standing there.

"Oh my god, you scared me," she told him.

"Sorry I just heard someone in here so I thought I'd see who it is," he said as he approached her. "What are you doing in here?"

"Teaching myself to fight," she said sheepishly. This earned a chuckle from Haru.

"How's that working for you?"

"It would be better if I could actually bend," she told him. "I like the technique fire benders use the most so I've been giving that a shot."

"Wanna try and spar?"

"Sure, just take it easy on me." They both took a fighting stance and then Haru charged at her. He didn't earth bend at first he just tried to hit Emilia but she was good a dodging him. She tried to hit him but he was a little too fast for her too. He shot a rock at her and she just barely missed it but it left her light on her feet so when she tried to hit him she stumbled and fell forward. She lifted her head and looked down to see she had landed on Haru.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to," Emilia apologized. She went to get off him but he held her where she was a sat up on his elbows. Emilia looked at Haru with a blush on her face. He looked at her with those chocolate eyes and leaned in to press his lips to hers. His lips felt nice so she leaned in and closed her eyes; bad idea. She didn't see Haru kissing her; she saw Zuko. Emilia quickly pulled away and stood a foot away from him.

"I can't, I'm sorry," she said keeping her voice low.

"It's Zuko isn't it?" Haru asked as he stood.

"I still love him, this just wouldn't feel right," Haru placed his hand on Emilia's shoulder and gave her a brief hug.

"It understand, but we can be friends right?"

"Of course," Emilia said with a smile. "Now let's get back to that spar."

Aang and Zuko didn't get back for two days. Everyone was excited to see if they'd learned anything while they were gone. They all gathered around as the prince and Aang showed off what they had learned. It was amazing at how well they could both fire bend now, especially Aang.

"With this technique the dragons showed us Zuko and I will be unstoppable," Aang said during their demonstration. Everyone clapped when they had finished.

"Yea that's a great dance you two learned there," Sokka said.

"It's not a dance it's a fire bending form," Zuko corrected.

"We'll just tap dance out way to victory over the Fire Lord," Sokka said; disregarded Zuko.

"It's a sacred form that happens to be thousands of years old," Zuko said getting annoyed.

"Oh yea, what's you little form called?" Katara asked.

"The Dancing Dragon . . ." Zuko said in defeat. Everyone started laughing but Zuko only noticed Emilia's. He'd missed her laugh so much and even though she was laughing at him it was still nice to hear that little giggle of hers again.

Aang had gotten pretty good at fire bending over the last few days. Zuko was getting better at it too even though he was already amazing. Emilia thought it was cute how he would try harder to do something or show off a little more when she walked by. It was like he was trying to win her over all over again. It was cute but rather pathetic. Everyone was sitting around the fire for dinner and Zuko offered to make tea. Emilia cringed at the thought of him making tea. It wasn't horrible but she preferred Iroh's much more.

"Would you like to hear Uncle's favorite tea joke?" Zuko asked as he passed out his tea, to which everyone was more than happy to hear. "Okay, well I can't remember how it starts but the punch line is 'leaf me alone, I'm bushed."-no one laughed.-"Well it's funnier when Uncle tells it." Emilia giggled to herself remembering the joke he was talking about. She had told it to her a couple times while they were working in the tea shop in Ba Sing Se.

"Right, maybe that's because he remembers the whole thing," Katara said earning a chuckle from Aang.

"It's nice to have a chance to relax a while," Toph said. "It hardly ever happens." When he got to Emilia he smiled at her as he gave her the cup. She gave him a small smile and started sipping at it.

"Not bad, hot head," she said. Toph laughed a little.

"Hot head? How long have you been calling him that?" She asked.

"Since he cut his pony tail off," Emilia responded as she took a sip of her tea. "You should have seen him; he threw such a fit when I tried to fix it so his hair didn't grow weird." Emilia laughed and so did everyone else. Zuko gave her a look but she just brushed it off; he deserved a little torture every now and then. When he went to give Sokka his tea he asked to speak to him alone. Emilia raised her eyebrow but remembered what was going to happen and went back to her tea.

"Wonder what they're talking about?" Teo wondered.

"Male bonding my friend, male bonding," Emilia said with a smile on her face.

They were gone the next morning and left nothing but a note that said they were going fishing. Aang was told to work on his fire bending which he did even though he was reluctant. Emilia offered to stay with him and help if he needed something. He told her it was okay but she insisted saying she had nothing better to do anyway. She watched him all day giving him pointers until he decided it was break time.

"You sure know a lot about fire bending," Aang said.

"Watching Zuko and Iroh all the time helped me remember a lot of stuff," Emilia said happily. Her thoughts shifted to Iroh for a moment. She wondered if he was okay or who he was with. Was he alone? She cast the thought aside not wanting to think about him being by himself. He probably found a lot of friends to help him. Emilia looked up at Aang to see him giving her a funny look. She raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing," Aang said looking away. It was quiet, that awkward kind of silence that made you uneasy.

"Something on your mind kiddo?" Emilia asked.

"Do you still care about Zuko?" He asked out of nowhere. Emilia looked at him a little shocked then at the ground. She nodded.

"I know I shouldn't but there's a part of me that knows he's really sorry for what he did," Emilia explained. "But there's another part that knows he's not. After he locks me away he turns around and makes kissy faces with that Mai girl." Aang put a comforting hand on her shoulder which made her look at him.

"He talks about you a lot while we train," Aang said. "He asked me for advice once but I can't even get Katara to like me so I didn't know what to say." He chuckled sheepishly as he finished his sentence making Emilia smile a little. She gave Aang a hug and he hugged her back. He really was a good kid and she was glad they were friends now.

"Come on, we should see if we can help with dinner,"

The next day drug on so Emilia thought she'd go off by herself again and try to do some more fire bending. She was getting better at it, she didn't fall every time she tried to do a kick and she didn't lose her footing so much anymore. She wished she could actually make fire come out but the chances of that happening were slim. She decided to take a break and see what everyone was doing so she went back to the camp and see what was going on. She started humming that song her and Zuko liked so much and leaned against the wall. She really did miss being with him. She missed being held by him and feeling safe in his arms. She missed the way his lips felt on hers and how gentle his touch was. Most of all she just missed her friend. The times they spent laughing together, the times they just talked, even the times when they were poking fun at one another. Zuko would always tease her about her hair and she would always take a stab at him for his girly hair. It was how they got along some times and it was something she wanted back more than anything.

"That's a pretty song," a voice said making Emilia jump a bit. She turned and saw Katara standing behind her.

"Yea, I like it too," Emilia said. "It's the only song I've ever been able to sing that Zuko didn't hate." Something else they messed around with a lot; her music.

"I honestly don't understand what you see in him," Katara said getting back to her bitch mood. Emilia just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as she faces the water bender.

"Because he's more than just and angry teenager," Emilia explained. "He's been yearning for his father's approval for so long and when it's pretty much handed to him he makes the mistake of taking it. It's hard to forgive him for what he did but it's getting easier to move on and start over. Like my mom always said; yesterday's gone and tomorrow's a mystery but today's a gift that's why it's called the present." Katara's face softened for a moment before she continued on.

"I just don't think I can be as forgiving."

It wasn't until the next day that Zuko and Sokka came back. They brought along Sokka and Katara's father and Sokka's girlfriend Suki. Emilia watched as everyone was getting all acquainted and welcoming their war heros home. She looked over to Zuko who was standing there watching too. She walked over to him and stood next to him. He looked at her for a second before looking back at everyone else. He only took a second look when he felt her grab his hand. She was looking ahead like nothing had happened but her hand was holding his tightly. He smiled inwardly and wrapped his hand around hers.

Zuko was sleeping in the main camp area with everyone else when he heard something a few rooms over. He got out of bed and cautiously went to the room and saw someone practicing in there. He assumed it was Toph or Katara but knew he was wrong when he saw a glint of caramel hair in the light.

"Emi, what the hell are you doing?" Zuko asked startling her. She relaxed a bit when she saw it was Zuko and folded her arms.

"I'm teaching myself to fight, what does it look like?"

"Why would you want to know how to fight?" Zuko asked as he got closer. Emilia pursed her lip and looked at her feet as she shifted the dirt around under her.

"Because I always get in the way," She said. "I can't bend, I have no weapons, I can't fight; all I'm good for is seeing the future and making sure my friend have the upper hand." She kept looking at her feet until she heard Zuko laugh. She looked at him in disbelief and went to walk away but he grabbed her arm and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"You don't get in the way," he said, resting his face in the crook of her neck like he always did. "I love having to protect you, it makes me feel like I'm doing my job as your boyfriend."

"Woe, woe, woe, what makes you think you're my boyfriend?" Emilia said looking up at him. "I thought you were Mai's boyfriend."

"She was the only person who didn't hate me back home," Zuko explained. "I was trying to convince myself it was the right thing to do by being with her since we were both of nobility but it never felt right. I saw her at the prison we rescued everyone from and told her we couldn't happen. I told her I loved you too much to break your heart even more." He never looked up at her as he spoke. He kept his head buried in her neck with his arms wrapped securely around her waist. Emilia didn't know what to say; she didn't know what she should say. She turned herself around in his arms and lifted his face so he was looking at her. His eyes were trembling with tears and the way he was holding her made it seem like he was afraid to let her go. Emilia bit her lip and placed her hands on either side of Zuko's face before leaning up to press her lips to his. He kissed back very softly; afraid that if he made it too intense she would push him away. Emilia wrapped her arms around his neck to deepen the kiss and Zuko's grasp tightened as well. He held her tightly not ever wanting to let her go again.

Zuko was the one to pull away but he rested his forehead on hers. Neither of them opened their eyes and neither said a word. Emilia leaned up to peck his lips and he pecked hers a few times too. They pulled away so they were just in each other's arms and looked at one another. Emilia smiled a genuine smile and Zuko grinned back at her.

"I'm not leaving you again," Zuko promised.

"Good, because I'm never letting you go."

The two had gone back to bed after a little more kissing. Emilia tried to go back to her spot but Zuko stopped her and pulled her down next to him. She was skeptical at first; not wanting everyone to think badly of them but the prince assured her it would be okay. She trusted him a little with things like that but she didn't know if it was right to share a bed right away. They had done it a lot in the past but now just didn't seem like the right time. Oh well, you had to take a few chances when you were making amends so this shouldn't bother her as much as it was. Emilia decided to shrug her worries aside and lay down next to Zuko. She missed the way his arms wrapped around her when they slept together; it was like she was wrapped in a cocoon.

Everything was peaceful until everyone was woken up by the sound on an explosion. Emilia assumed Haru was practicing his earth bending but when she opened her eyes he was in his bed. Everyone looked over to Aang who was staring at some Fire Nation war ships; they'd found them. Aang did some fancy air bending and closed the panels around the area they were sleeping to help protect them. The walls and roof were so old they started crumbling.

"Look out!" she heard Zuko shout. She turned to look at him thinking he was talking to her only to see him pushing Katara out of the way. She felt a pang of jealousy but ignored it for the time being. They had just made up so it would be wrong of her to start a whole new fight. Toph and Haru made a hole in the wall that was big enough for everyone to fit through but Appa wouldn't budge.

"What are you doing?" Aang asked making everyone look to Zuko.

"I'll try to hold them off," he said. "I think this is a family visit."

"Fucking really, Zuko?" Emilia hollered after him.

"Zuko, no!" Aang shouted. He was about to run after him but Sokka stopped him.

"Come on, we've got to get out of here," Aang reluctantly agreed and started trying to pull Appa along. Sokka and Katara tried to help but he wouldn't budge.

"I can't get him to go in there; Appa hates tunnels," Aang said.

"Aang there's no way we can fly out of here," Katara stated.

"We'll have to find a way."

"We'll have to split up," Sokka said. "Take the tunnel and get to the stolen air ship."

"No," Katara protested. "The Fire Nation can't separate our family again."

"It'll be okay, it's not forever," Hakoda promised. Katara hugged her father and then ran back to the bison.

"Come on Emilia, you're coming too. We may need your help." Emilia was still out of it worrying about Zuko so she didn't notice that Katara was talking to her at first. Sokka grabbed Suki and pulled her onto Appa too while Toph felt around on the walls. She jumped onto Appa and cleared a hole for them to escape through. Toph kept a shield of rock in front of Appa so they didn't get hit as they flew through. It worked and everyone looked back in time to see the stolen air ship come into view with Zuko on top of it. Aang tried to turn around to get him but they were getting shot at by fire benders.

"Pull up, left, the other left!" Emilia shouted commands loudly. Aang did what she told him and they dodged everything pretty well. They took the opportunity to swing back around and pick up Zuko. They were just in time to catch him as he was falling off one of the air ships. Emilia instantly wrapped him in her arms and he wrapped his around her too. Everyone looked back at Azula as she continued to plummet.

"She's not gonna make it," Zuko mused. Everyone kept watching as the princess shot fire out of her feet and rocketed herself to the cliff side and used her hair piece to hold her in place. "Of course she did."

"Stupid bitch will never die," Emilia said as she absent mindedly ran her fingers through Zuko's hair. He didn't mind but he could feel a few people staring. He just smiled to himself and adjusted her so she was comfortably in his lap for the rest of the trip.

Hours later they were on a little island that was surrounded by tall rocks so no one would see. They decided to make camp here for the night and they spent the rest of the day setting up tents and making a fire.

"Wow, camping," Aang said. "It really seems like old times again doesn't it?"

"If you really want it to feel like old times me and Emi could chase you around and try to capture you," Zuko said earning a laugh from the group.

"In my defense, I never really helped him," Emilia said raising her hands in defense. "All I did was cook, clean, and do laundry." That earned another laugh from everyone except Katara who obviously didn't find any of it funny.

"To Zuko," Sokka said as he proposed a toast. "Who knew after all those times he tried to snuff us out today he'd be our hero."

"I'm touched; I don't deserve this."

"Yea, no kidding," Katara said rather annoyed then got up and walked away.

"What's with her?" Sokka asked.

"I wish I knew," Zuko replied as he got up to fallow after her. Emilia snarled a little but tried not to make it noticeable. She liked ZuTara as much as the next person but now that she was actually here and Zuko was technically hers Katara could shove it.

"Someone's jealous," Toph said in reference to Emilia who said nothing. "You think Sparky's got the hots for the Sugar Queen?"

"Who knows?" Emilia said. "Where I come from they say opposites attract and since their elements are natural opposites people would pair them together in a heartbeat."

"I don't think Zuko would do that," Suki said. "It seems like he simply adores you; I mean the way he clung to you on the ride here was enough to prove that." Emilia smiled and looked over to Suki.

"You're right, I guess I'm just paranoid."

That paranoid feeling got stronger when Zuko didn't go to bed that night. Emilia woke up alone and Zuko was nowhere around. She didn't want to worry too much until she found out he had spent all night in front of Katara's tent. She tried to remain calm but her jealousy was getting the better of her. She had been with one too many guys who had been "just friends" with a girl then turned around and cheated on her with them. She tried to clear her mind by offering to clean Appa's fur.

"I need to barrow Appa," she heard Katara say. She peeked around the bison to see what was going on.

"Why, is it your turn to take a little field trip with Zuko?" Aang asked.

"Yes it is."

"Oh, what's going on?" Aang asked confused. Emilia stepped out from behind the bison and looked at the scene before her.

"I'm going to find the man who took my mother from me," Katara stated.

"Sokka told me the story of what happened," Zuko said. "I know who did it and I know where to find him."

"And what exactly do you think this will accomplish?" Aang asked.

"I knew you wouldn't understand," Katara scoffed.

"Wait, stop, I do understand," Aang told her. "You're feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do you think I felt about the sand benders when they stole Appa? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?"

"She needs this Aang, this is about getting closure and justice," Zuko interrupted.

"I don't think so, I think it's about getting revenge."

"Fine maybe it is, maybe that's what I need; maybe that's what he deserves."

"Katara, you sound like Jet," Aang said sadly.

"It's not the same," Katara protested. "Jet attacked the innocent, this man is a monster."

"Katara she was my mother too, but I think Aang might be right," Sokka said.

"Then you didn't love her the way I did!"

"Katara . . ."

"The monks used to say revenge is like a two headed rat viper," Aang said. "While you watch your enemy go down you're slowly being poisoned yourself."

"That's cute but this isn't Air Temple preschool; it's the real world," Zuko commented.

"Zuko!" Emilia scolded but he didn't look at her.

"Now that I know he's out there; now that I know we can find him I feel like I have n choice," Katara said.

"Katara you do have a choice; forgiveness," Aang told her calmly.

"That's the same as doing nothing," Zuko interjected.

"No it's not," Aang said. "It's easy to do nothing, it's hard to forgive."

"It's not just hard, it's impossible," Katara said before walking away. Emilia shook her head and went back to brushing out Appa. She didn't know how anyone could be so stubborn. Sure the guy had killed her mother and that was unforgivable but did she really think killing him would make it all better? No it wouldn't. You can't cure violence with violence; that only makes things worse.

"Is she really gonna do it?" Sokka asked, his question obviously pointed at Emilia. She looked up at him but he wasn't looking at her.

"I don't know."

Emilia tried to confront Zuko about what he was doing but he wasn't going to listen to her. He said he needed to make peace with Katara and that this was the only way to do it. Emilia had gotten so frustrated she just ignored him the rest of the day. When she woke up the next morning Zuko was gone and so were Appa and Katara. She tried to relax and think about the logical side of all of this. If Zuko really cared about her then he wouldn't do anything to hurt her or make her distrust him. After all this was said and done she knew that Katara wouldn't be an issue anymore. Her and Zuko would bond and everything would be okay.

Zuko and Katara got back the next day and Katara instantly went off by herself. Zuko had told everyone what happened and Aang was the most proud of them all. Everyone got on Appa and went to find Katara to talk to her. She hadn't killed the guy which was a good thing and Aang was really proud of her. What's more was she finally forgave Zuko. It was one less thing to hear her complain about.


	15. Couldn't Get Any Worse

**AUTHOR'S**** NOTE: sorry I dissappeared for a while with my story, I had a lot of things going on with school, moving to a new state, college, getting a job, and on top of that my computer decided it wanted to die on me so I've been computerless for a while. And I've kinda been watching a lot of Korra lately in an attempt to get new ideas on more fanfictions. **

**But anywhoozer. I got a new computer for christmas and this is my present for you guys :)**

**I've also been reading all your reviews and I'm touched that you guys like my story so much. I've been saving the emails I get notifying me of my reviews and I love all you guys for reading my fic and giving me such positive feedback!**

**the one that stood out the most to me was one I read this morning from Mrs. Shanique Volturi-Whitlock. I hope you enjoy this update, since you read the whole thing so far in one day ^^**

* * *

><p>That night everyone went to Zuko's old beach house. He swore no one would ever find them because no one ever goes there anymore. It was kind of dirty like no one had been there in a while so no one really worried about it that much. Everyone got dressed in their Fire Nation clothes so they'd be less noticeable. The yard was big enough to hide Appa and the house was big enough for everyone to have their own room. Suki and Sokka shared a room making everyone a little curious as to what they were doing but no one really worried too much. It had been an exhausting day of moving and shopping for supplies so everyone had turned in early for the night. Emilia was lying awake in her bed staring at the ceiling; she couldn't sleep. For the first time in a while she was thinking about home. She remembered that promise Zuko made to her about helping her find her way home but she knew it was impossible. The cruel reality of never seeing her family or her friends again was sinking in and it hurt.<p>

Since sleep was turning out to not be an option Emilia decided to take a walk. She didn't intend on going far; just down to the beach and back. It was really cold and she was regretting not bringing a jacket or something. She wondered how it could be so cold in a place like the Fire Nation but there were a lot of things that weren't making sense. The walk to the beach was shorter than she expected so she just sat in the sand. The sound of the water was calming and it made her miss home even more. She hadn't gone swimming in what felt like forever and she was missing all those fun times at the pool with her friends. They would always see who could stay under the longest and who could swim the length of the pool the fastest. She missed all those times.

A thought suddenly came to Emilia's mind. No one was around and it was the middle of the night so why not go for a swim? Emilia wadded in the water for a few minutes before she realized swimming in her clothes wasn't the best idea. She quickly stripped down to nothing and went into the cold water. It felt good on her skin and it was nice to have water running through her hair. She spent a good twenty minutes swimming around before she heard someone coming. She hid by a nearby dock and hoped the person would hurry up and leave. She had forgotten about her clothes until she heard the rustling sound of someone picking them up.

"Emilia, where are you?" a voice asked. Emilia's eyes got wide when she heard Zuko's voice. He had never really seen her naked and showing herself now would be embarrassing. On the other hand he might take her pile of clothes as a bad sign and start freaking out. Emilia decided to cut her losses.

"I'm down here . . ." she said sheepishly. She grabbed the edge of the dock and picked herself up so he could see no more than her head and shoulders. His eyes went wide for a second before he dropped her clothes and turned around.

"I'm sorry," he blurted out. "I didn't, I mean I did but, well you know . . ." Emilia got out of the water and wrapped her over shirt around herself. It was big enough to cover everything so she didn't really worry about him seeing anything.

"You can turn around now," Emilia said as she bent over and picked up her clothes. Zuko turned around and looked at her which was a horrible idea. Her hair was all wet and it was sticking to her neck and her shoulders, her top was sticking to her body showing off every curve she had, and above all that when she was wet her eyes looked bigger and even prettier than before. Emilia tried not to look at Zuko as he stared and go back to the house but she could still feel his eyes on her.

"Stop staring,"

"I'm sorry, you're just so beautiful," Zuko replied breathlessly. Emilia blushed and looked at him over her shoulder. She hadn't expected him to be so close and before she could turn around fully he had his arms wrapped around her waist. He moved her damp hair away from her neck and trailed kisses from her ear to her shoulder. Emilia relaxed in his arms and tilted her head so he would have better access. Zuko took advantage of this and started biting and sucking in certain places. He smirked when he heard little noises coming from Emilia and kept going. It was all Emilia could do not to full out moan. He was hitting all the right spots and his hands were starting to roam.

Zuko slid his fingers under the collar of Emilia's shirt and brought it down to reveal more of her shoulder. Emilia shuttered as the cold air hit her exposed skin and tried to fix her shirt but Zuko stopped her. She looked up at him to see that he was looking at her with an intense stare. She blushed and looked away but Zuko placed his hand under her chin and made her look at him. They looked into each other's eyes for a long moment before closing the gap and kissing each other. Emilia turned herself in Zuko's arms and wrapped her arms around his necks and he wrapped his arms around her waist. It was gentle and passionate at first but the more they stood there the more intense it got. It finally got to the point where they were making out where they stood. Zuko's tongue maneuvered inside Emilia's mouth and encouraged hers to play along. The way his tongue felt on hers made a shiver go up her spine. She moaned into his mouth and pulled him closer to deepen the kiss.

It was about now when Zuko's hands began to wander again. They traveled down to her bottom and began groping it. Emilia squeaked in surprise and pulled away a bit. She looked up at Zuko who was giving her the same intense gave as before. A blush spread across her face as Zuko took her lips in another heated kiss. Zuko's hands moved more roughly making Emilia whimper a little. He gradually moved to her sides and up to her chest to massage her breast. Emilia gasped in surprise and looked up at Zuko. He wasn't staring at her this time; he was looking at her chest. His lips were parted a little as he stared like he was trying to say something but he couldn't remember how to form the words. His hands started getting hotter making the feeling more intense. Emilia closed her eyes tightly at the feeling. No one had ever touched her like this before and she could never imagine it feeling so good. She was getting lost in the feeling when she felt cold air hit her skin. She looked at Zuko who was moving her top out of the way. He looked up at Emilia's blushing face and gave her a quick kiss.

"Is this okay?" he asked; his voice low and husky. Emilia nodded her head and opened her shirt for him. He stared at her for a moment making her even more self-conscious. Her breast weren't even that big; they were 36-C but nothing special. She was surprised a little when she felt Zuko's hands begin to grope her again but got over it and started enjoying the feeling. She was beginning to relax when she felt him start to suck on her nipples. She moaned too loudly for her liking and covered her mouth. Zuko smirked a little and kept sucking in hopes of getting that reaction again. Emilia kept her mouth covered and trying to keep her volume low but Zuko kept sucking. He finally stopped only to move to the other one. He played with the other one with his hand in hopes of making her cry out again. He looked up at her as he did it and smirked at her blushing face.

He finally stopped and stood up right again to face her. Emilia was out of breath a little and was panting which aroused Zuko even more if that was even possible. On an impulse he grabbed the sides of Emilia's shirt and moved it so he could slide his hands around her waist. His hands felt warm on her skin and she shivered at the contact. He caressed her back and sides and slid down to her bottom where they rested. Emilia bit her lip and blushed but rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his torso. This whole situation was leaving her rather aroused and she felt a little ashamed of that for some reason. She had never had sex before so it's not like she was a whore but was this really the best circumstances to feel that way? Her thoughts were interrupted by something hard being rubbed against her thighs. She rubbed her leg against it and blushed when she heard Zuko make a noise. He hadn't thought about it until she had brushed against it and now it was the only thing he could think about. His hormones were raging; it was all he could do to not take here there on the beach. He got an idea though and decided to give it a try. Everything else he had tried had worked out pretty well so why not give it another shot?

He started groping Emilia's bottom again in an attempt to relax her. He heard her sigh and felt her muscles relax. He took this opportunity to slide his hand down between her legs. Emilia gasped when she felt Zuko's fingers slide across her wet folds. No one had touched her there either-not even her doctor. His fingers moved slowly over her center but never entered her. Even so it still felt good. Emilia was making little noises into Zuko's shoulder making him want to do more. He slid his other hand from her bottom to her thigh and lifted her leg up around her waist so he could have some more access. He pressed down harder earning some more noises-this time louder than the others. Zuko pressed his groin to hers as he continued to stroke her. Emilia was gripping his shirt and had her face buried in his shoulder so he assumed she was enjoying it. He was about to take it the next step and insert his fingers inside her warm core but she stopped him.

"Stop, please . . ." She said softly pulling herself away from him. Zuko looked at her strangely as she stood there blushing.

"Did I do something wrong?" Emilia shook her head.

"I just . . . I've never done this before," she told him. "I . . . I don't feel like I'm ready . . ." She didn't look at Zuko as she talked and she hoped he would understand. She felt Zuko wrap his arms around her shoulders and she wrapped hers around his torso.

"I can wait until you are," Zuko told her before kissing the top of her head. "For now let's go home and get some sleep." Emilia agreed and walked back to the house with Zuko. She slept in her own room that night. She was a little afraid to sleep in Zuko's room for fear that his arousal would be more important than his better judgment. It was wrong to think he'd do something like that but at the moment she didn't trust him.

There was obvious tension between the two the next morning between Emilia and Zuko. There were moments where they wanted to say something to the other but neither did. It was obvious to everyone else but no one really wanted to say anything. Everyone was in the court yard watching all the benders practice when Sokka decided to approach Emilia.

"Did you and Zuko get into another fight?" he asked her; she shook her head. "Well then why are you guys so bleh?" Emilia lifted her head and raised an eyebrow and the Water Tribe boy's choice in words.

"Well, it's sort of embarrassing," Emilia said with a blush. Sokka stared her down for a moment before she finally caved.

"We . . . almost had sex last night,"

"Does big brother Sokka need to teach him a lesson?" Sokka asked punching his fist to his palm. Emilia laughed a little and shook her head. There was no real reason for him to do anything like that. In any case he would probably lose very badly should he get into a fight with Zuko.

"It's okay, you'd lose anyway," Emilia said with a giggle.

"Thanks for the confidence," Sokka replied.

Suki and Sokka went into town to do some shopping after that. Zuko and Aang continued to train, both of them getting a lot better at fire bending. Emilia watched Zuko intently like she always did but today seemed like it as just a bad day for her. Every move Zuko made was making her heart leap and the way his muscles looked today were making her insides feel funny. She just bit her lip and did her best not to look at him as images from the night before started flooding into her head. It was enough to make her want to scream. She had never physically wanted someone so bad and it was driving her crazy. The thoughts made her feel dirty and the feeling in her stomach was killing her too.

"Isn't it weird that we're hiding from the fire lord in his own house?" Katara asked, interrupting Emilia's thoughts.

"I told you my father hasn't come here since our family was actually happy, and that was a long time ago," Zuko said wiping some of the sweat from his face. "This is the last place anyone would think to look for us."

"You guys are not gonna believe this," Sokka's voice called as he came running back into the building. "There's a play about us."

"We were just in town and we saw this poster," Suki said as Sokka held it up. On the front were paintings of Sokka, Katara and Aang and a bunch of writing.

"How is that even possible?" Katara asked.

"Just listen to this," Sokka said as he began reading the poster. Emilia cringed but got up and stood in the group too. The play was hilarious and watching it in person would be the most fun thing she'd done since she'd been here, but she was worried about the others. Emilia giggled a little when Zuko complained about the play writes; he was right to say they were awful.

"Sokka do you really think it's a good idea to attend a play about ourselves?" Katara asked, her pessimism obviously getting her better of her.

"Come on, a day at theater? This is the kind of wacky time wasting nonsense I've been missing," Sokka protested. He did seem rather excited.

"It is pretty funny," Emilia said, tapping her head when they looked at her strangely. "Besides, when's the last time we had any real fun?"

"Emi has a point," Toph said. "I vote we go."

"Yea me too," Aang added.

"It'll be awful but might as well," the prince added, standing to join the others. Katara finally did agree and went into the house to take care of the groceries. Aang and Zuko went back to training and everyone else resumed watching.

They didn't leave until it was almost dark and snuck in with the crowd trying not to be noticed. Everyone filed in to a balcony where they were sure to not be seen. Emilia was planning on sitting next to Zuko but before she had a chance to he plopped down between Katara and Aang. Emilia tapped him on the head and he gave her an apologetic look and promised to sit with her after the first act. She rolled her eyes playfully and leaned back in the seat.

"Why are we sitting in the nose bleed section? My feet can't see a thing from up here," Toph complained.

"Don't worry, I'll tell your feet what's happening," Katara told her. The play started shortly after that. It started with Sokka and Katara and looked halfway decent until the actors started talking. It was rather over dramatized and Sokka just seemed like an idiot. The two were at bit irritated at their characters and it got even worse when Aang appeared. He kept complaining about how the actor was a woman and made him seem like a child. Emilia couldn't help but let out a small giggle when Zuko showed up. The Iroh character seemed more like him than some of the other actors but they made him seem pretty stupid too.

The play went on to where they found Momo, but they made him talk. The Kioshi warrior part was even worse than that but it did make Suki laugh. The part with Bumi earned a chuckle from a few people in the group. One of the worst parts was the blue spirit part, mostly because Zuko and Aang both knew who the spirit really was. The play was beginning to reach the part where Emilia showed up and she was a little anxious to see how they portrayed her.

"Look a prisoner, why not saver her Zuko?" the Iroh actor said.

"No leaver her," the Zuko actor replied. Iroh didn't listen and opened the cell door anyway. Out popped a blond girl with very risqué closes and a crystal ball in her hands.

"Thank you for releasing me," the actor said. "In turn for helping me allow me to be your eternal servant." The girl pranced about carrying the crystal in her hand and bouncing it around like she was contact juggling.

"We don't need a stupid servant, we need the avatar!" the Zuko actor proclaimed.

"Ah but I'm a fortune teller and I can help you capture the avatar," the Emilia actor said getting all up close and personal to the Zuko actor. The actor got an excited look on his face and swept the girl off her feet and carried her off stage so the scene could change. Every looked at Emilia to see her jaw dropped and her eyes wide open.

"That bad, Emi?" Zuko asked.

"I'm gonna kill this damn play write," She grumbled sitting back in her seat. The play progressed and Emilia began to hate it more and more. It made her look like a little whore who was willing to do anything to get with Zuko. They even made the two kiss in the north pole. Thankfully the intermission came after that so they would have a chance to cool down.

"So far this intermission is the best part of the play," Zuko said.

"Apparently the play write thinks I'm an idiot who tells bad jokes about meat all the time," Sokka complained.

"Right, you tell bad jokes about plenty of other topics," Suki told him.

"I know!"

"At least the Sokka actor kind of looks like you," Aang added. "That woman playing the avatar doesn't look like me at all!"

"I don't know, you are more in touch with your feminine side than most guys," Toph said.

"They make me look like a ditsy blonde, which is not freakin cool," Emilia grumbled propping herself up on the railing of the stairs.

"Relax you guys, they're not accurate portrayals," Katara said. "It's not like I'm a preachy cry baby who can't resist giving emotional speeches about hope all the time." That earned a look from everyone.

"Listen friends, it's obvious the play write did his research," Toph said. "It might hurt but what you're seeing up there is the truth."

"Easy for you to say, you haven't shown up in the play yet," Emilia grumbled.

The play started up a little after that so they all had to return to their seats. Emilia claimed her spot next to Zuko and leaned her head on his shoulder during the play. The Toph actor ended up being a very buff man and she was extremely happy about it.

"Zuko It's time we had a talk, about your hair. It's getting out of control," the Iroh actor said.

"Maybe it's best if we split up," the Zuko actor said.

"I shall accompany you my love!" the Emilia actor said and pranced off behind him. Emilia clenched onto Zuko's hand a little too hard making him yelp a little in pain.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, Emi you're hurting me,"

"Sorry," she said as she let go. The play kept getting worse and worse, everything was over dramatized and it made the whole group look like a bunch of idiots. It especially got bad when they got to the crystal catacombs part

"I thought you were the avatars girl," Zuko said.

"The avatar? Why he's like a little brother to me," Katara replied.

"I already have Emilia,"

"How will either of them ever know about this?" Aang got up and left after that and Emilia was about to as well but Zuko held her in her seat and pulled her closer. Emilia got even more angry when it got to the part where Zuko had betrayed her and Iroh.

"I hate you uncle, you smell and I hate you for all time," the actor said. "And I hate you too Emilia, you flitting tramp."

"You didn't really say those things did you?" Katara asked him.

"No but I might as well have," Zuko said, pulling Emilia just a little but closer.

"It's seems like every time you guys get into a fight you barely make it out alive," Suki said at the next intermission. "I mean, you guys lose a lot."

"You're one to talk Suki, didn't Azula take you captive?" Sokka questioned. "That's right, she did!"

"Are you trying to get on my bad side?"

"Does anyone know where Aang is?" Katara asked as she rounded the corner.

"He went to get me fire gummies like ten minutes ago and I'm still waiting!" Sokka exclaimed.

"I'm gonna go check outside," After she left Sokka and Suki went to find the actors backstage leaving the other three by the wall. Zuko was in a bit of a mood and Emilia's really wasn't any better.

"Geez, everyone's getting so down about their characters," Toph said. "Even the two of you are more down than usual, and that's saying something."

"You don't get it, it's different for you," Zuko said to her. "You get a muscly version of yourself taking down ten bad guys at once and making sassy remarks."

"Yea that is pretty great,"

"But for me it takes all the mistakes I've made and shoves them back in my face," Zuko continued. "My uncle; he's always been by my side even when things were bad and so had Emilia. You were both there for me and taught me so much and how do I repay them? With knifes in their backs; it's my greatest regret and I'll never get to redeem myself."

"You've redeemed yourself to me," Emilia said. "You made a lot of mistakes but by helping Aang to right all these wrongs you've got me sold."

"You've redeemed yourself to your uncle too," Toph added. "You don't realize it, but you have."

"How do you know?"

"Because I once had a long talk with the guy and all he could talk about was you."

"Really?"

"Yea, it was kind of annoying but it was also very sweet," she went on. "All he wanted was for you to find your own path and see the light, and not you're here with us. He'd be proud." Toph finished off her statement by punching Zuko rather hard in the arm.

"Ow, what was that for?"

"It's how I show affection." A little kid in an Aang costume came running by and looked at Zuko for a moment before commenting on his scar. Emilia giggled at how he reacted and kissed him on the cheek earning a small blush. No matter what he was still that shy little kid.

The play continued and went on and it was getting down to the intense stuff. It got past the part where Emilia and Zuko joined and continued into the say the comet arrived. Everything happened so quickly and the crowd cheered as one by one the team was snuffed out. At the end the Fire Lord had won and every cheered. The group walked back to the house in silence but Zuko had one last thing to say.

"That wasn't a good play."


End file.
